library: OF CONGRESS. 

SLiiO 

Shelf...-..!*. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THOUGHTS ON MAN, 



— OK 



Lqiidrqq^s of Ti^tl). 



AUG 23 1888 



DR. D. H- PELTON, 

OF Wahoo, Nebraska 

I ' 3 



JANUARY i st, 1888, 



WAHOO, NEB: 
THE TFT^SF naxaTTXiTQ- COZMCF-A.IT'Z', 

less. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by 

Dr. D. R. PELTON, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



r9 






<1PREFACE> 



.3F5 HAVE hoped by this little book to attract the 
(tw mind toward the unity of nature and God. To 
Ofs also show the necessity of harmonizing the- 
i ology and science, and to stimulate those who 
are prejudiced to one line of thought to look 
for harmony in all things. To encourage theologians 
to examine more thoroughly their field, and be able 
to meet the attacks made upon the Scriptures by 
their own thought and investigation, rather than 
depend upon the enemies of the Divine Word. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS, 



Introduction and object of the work, and the three general 
classes of people as we lind them. Bible and science one. 
Who should be ready to answer questions of truth. 

CHAPTER I.— Evolution. 

The wonderous germ. Excitement about the subject of the 
life and destiny of man. The difficulties of science and 
theology. The necessity of a higher power than matter. 
Falsity of the theory of evolution from one germ by en- 
vironment. The lack of energy in matter simply. Ani- 
mal matter a medium through which life moves. Rap- 
id development of the lowest Indian, and their difference 
from the ape. Strong desire of evolutionists to make 
their point. The missing link. The necessity of differ- 
ent germs of life. The result of the human ovum passing 
through all the lower orders of life. The " survival of the 
fittest." 

CHAPTER II.— Evolution. 

The inability to trace the life of one order into one higher. 
Matter a servant of force. Necessity of different vital 
forces to make vegetable and animal fibre. Darwin and 
Hackel disagree. Falsity of spontaneous generation. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

The project of multiplying species by art. The lost 
branch of the trunk. Age of the race of man and mon- 
key. Soul creation and its manner. Necessity of a mind 
to direct. Higher development of man. No desire to 
worship in the ape. Connection of human with divine. 
Mind modified by the condition of matter. The specimen 
of the cave dwellers of the Bad Lands of Dakota. 



CHAPTER JIWTtiE Influence of Mind. 

Science and theology advancing. What are miracles? 
No necessity for them now. Division of the mind into 
its three principal parts. Table of division. Emotion- 
its functions and power on the body and other minds- 
Its subdivision into hope, fear, expectation, faith, etc. 
Mesmeric power. Difference between faith cures and 
miracles. Mind cannot restore physical deformities. 
Mind on mind. 

CHAPTER IV.— The Forces of Mind. 

Different ideas of force. Evidence of life and power. Dif- 
ferent forces and laws. Tendency for all organic sub- 
stances to return to their original state. A combination of 
forces in the human system, and their functions. Func- 
tion of the soul. Death of the soul. Trinity of man. 
Difference between minds of man and of animals. Emotion 
and its effects. Man's accountability for will. His power 
of choice. Motives in choice. Purpose of action inher- 
ent. 

CHAPTER V.— The Beginning of Man. 

The parallel existence of evil and good. The creation of 
man. His liberties. His fall and its transmission to the 
race. Creation of life and vitality, and its transmission. 
Witnessing of science and the Divine Word. Science in 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 7 

the fog. Geological transformations as understood. 
They cannot account for man. Man's first physical con- 
dition. The wonders of Christ's birth. Christ compared 
with Adam. Man's growth and decline. Theory of the 
unity of Christ's humanity and divinity. Dispersion of 
the human family and populating the earth. Drummond 
on biogenesis of man. 

CHAPTER VI — Death of Man and the Resurrection. 

Nature of Matter and its relations to power. How mirid is 
' matter, and matter possessed. The Egyptian belief. 
Death struggles and their cause. Nature of death. Its 
physical changes. The separation of the trinity of man. 
Where is man after his body returns to dust. The impos- 
sibility of the resurrection of the natural body. No dif- 
ference where man dies. How are the dead raised ? The 
two bodies and their nature. The difference between 
Christ's resurrection and ours. Shall we know our friends 
there ? Their form and condition. 

CHAPTER VII.— The Future State of Man. 

Closing of the cycle of time. Science and theology agree in 
the end of the world. How it is to be destroyed. The 
fire-mist. The new heaven and new earth. The sea of 
glass. Man waiting for the new body. How it shall be 
governed, its faculties. Condition of the new earth. 
The New Jerusalem, its description. 



^INTRODUCTIONS 



§N writing this little volume, it is with the hope 
that I may throw a ray of light across the dark 
@Ag) waters, where minds are drifting without chart 
L or compass, subject to the veering of the current 
of public mind, and yet, at the mercy of the ele- 
ments of darkness. We have three principal classes 
of people at the present time. 

The larger class are those who have framed no def- 
inite idea of themselves in their different states of ex- 
istence, — of mind and matter, or the force of Nature, 
that enter into the formation and control of all things. 
Many have a small idea of natural philosophy, and 
some none at all, their minds being occupied with other 
avocations of life, which are absolutely necessary for 
their comfort and immediate happiness, and such are 
made the prey of the false theories which are every- 
where flooding the country in cheap literature and 



IO INTRODUCTION. 

lectures, and lessening their belief in the true nature 
of their being, and in the power of an Almighty God. 

Another class is composed of those who, for some 
reason (God himself only knows, for they themselves 
cannot tell), teach a theory of infidelity — material- 
ism — evolution — resulting finally in socialism and so- 
called free-thinkers, which mean more than the word 
alone. They do not pretend any special good is to 
arise from their doctrine to the human race, or relieve 
any anxious mind that is hoping for a future state, 
but try to kill and destroy all hope of a hereafter, which 
the human race has clung to from its earliest exist- 
ence. Their only object seems to be to promulgate 
a doctrine that will best correspond with the natural 
result of their lives and justify that which they do. 
No doubt a dispersion or annihilation would be pre- 
ferable to the fate of an unbeliever, and therefore I 
am not surprised that they try to argue away the 
principles of immortality. 

Some have become so entangled by the web of 
science that whichever way they look it is all materi- 
al, and they have so strained their imaginations, that 
even mind to them furnishes only matter for investi- 
gation ; all to them is chance — a throwing together of 
all primitive elements, and a selection and environment 
without any direction or intention, but naturally re- 
sulted in something which was not known or planned 
until its final completion, then the thing knew itself. 



INTRODUCTION. II 

They theorize material and spread it out over so 
large a surface that it becomes so thin and transpar- 
ent that it does not cover the nakedness of their false 
teaching. 

Then there is another class which guards vigilantly 
its theological field and declines even to look through 
scientific laws at all for fear of being stranded upon 
some scientific rock, or drifted away from the theo- 
logical clime where they have lived and enjoyed it in 
seclusion from childhood. 

Some truth can be gathered from all things with 
care, and be so properly applied that it strengthens 
a good work. 

I believe science is the Bible, only in different lan- 
guage and form, when properly applied, and if we 
do not see harmony, it is because it is not read cor- 
rectly, and no one should be more eager to read the 
book of nature to-day than he who reads the Written 
Word. 

It is with the hope that minds of these different 
classes may be stimulated to act and reach out for 
deeper thought, that induces me to put in print these 
fragments of principles upon which our minds are so 
tossed and drifted by teachers of an infidel world to- 
day. 

Infidelity is easier taught than truth. Weeds need 
no cultivation, they grow spontaneously, but things 
of worth need continual care. 



1 2 INTRODUCTION. 

Sinful thoughts and desires are the natural out- 
growth of fallen man, and for right is where the 
struggle comes. 

So with he who floats down the running stream; 
gravitation carries him on and down ; but let him try 
to land above, or elevate his plane of life; it takes 
many hard and strong pulls against the natural 
desires. 

And in this little work I hope a seed of thought 
may fix upon your mind, and if it does not bear a 
type of that which is sown, may it be of greater 
worth and move on the work of investigation and 
research. 

My object is to harmonize the discords of the 
crashing sounds eminating from mighty brain and 
experienced pen ; but both cannot be all right, there- 
fore each may be partly right and partly wrong, and 
so may I ; and yet, if we hold our peace no progress 
will ever be made. Yet, let God live if man be made 
a liar. 

It is well to survey our enemy's ground, as by so 
doing we are better able to know their strength and 
meet them at their weaker points, and often we are 
able to even turn their own batteries upon their theo- 
ry, and with their own weapons batter their seeming 
strongholds to the ground. 

Theologians one day could confine their studies 
alone to Bible thought, but now the times demand 



INTRODUCTION. I 3 

an answer to knotty questions, which have arisen 
through opposition and inquisitive minds, and must 
be met. This requires a knowledge of other things, 
and some idea of the unseen force of natural law. 

These questions should be answered by the friends 
of the Scripture, and not have to submit to the in- 
terpretation of the enemies of the Word. 

We should be ready to give a reason for the hope 
that is within us, and be not slow to maintain the 
the principles of right wherever the lines may fall. 
There is a rapid progression being made in all matters 
of interest, and it will not pay those who contend for 
right to stand idle and fail to use the means at their 
disposal to obtain knowledge. 

As fast as the enemy of right and God forge guns 
of infidelity, whether under the pretense of science 
or otherwise, to batter down our defense of the iden- 
tity, and life, and immortality of the human soul, let 
us raise ini proportion our line of defense, and make 
strong the points of attack, and hurl them back into 
their own made grave they dug for us. 

As fast as science unveils truth we have an equal 
right to its use, and when properly applied it will 
give us stronger faith and greater knowledge of the 
works of God. We have as strong scientific men 
and philosophers as live to-day — thorough christian 
men — and may their ranks ever be kept full. But 
let infidelity do its best, it only sharpens faith and 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

roots and grounds our principles more firmly in the 
one almighty truth — that there is a God on which 
all nature stands, and moves through its mighty 
cycles of endless time. Science furnishes only an- 
other witness as testimony to the rock of eternal 
truth. 




DEVOLUTIONS 



CHAPTER I. 



What mean those microscopic germs upon the earthy 
Are they to multiply, grow and bring forth 
Vegetable, animate and inanimate forms : 
Develop into all the kingdoms and then return V 
Or does there more of hidden form exist, 
Composed of microscopic man, of life and soul consist 
Or is our life one long, unbroken chain, 
From moneron up the ascending scale to man? 
And is there naught beyond this mortal state 
For man to hope or conscious man to wait ? 
Or does this end all when man returns to dust- 
To lifeless clay, as science says he must ? 
May we not hope that life exists beyond, 
And a place unseen for conscious spirits found ? 
Where we can sweep with telescopic y^s unknown, 
The univsrsal worlds around our home? 



§N discussing the principles of evolution, I only 
speak of a few of the principal points wherein 
qKg) we may differ from the teachers of that theory, 
X for my object is to give the reader land marks 
here and there, that he may from these points 
think for himself, and be fully convinced of the prin- 
ciples which are herein contained. 



I 6 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

Nothing seems to excite the mind of man to criti- 
cism, distrust and unbelief as much as a subject 
which has in view the eternal welfare and happiness 
of man, and nothing is called to stand the siege of 
the batteries of unscrupulous minds and evil hearts 
as the origin, life and destiny of man. Why persons 
should try to work their minds into a belief simply 
to oppose that which seems the most plausible, and 
would give us the greatest prospect of good and the 
only hope of eternal happiness, is more than I can 
tell, but such seems to be the state of things at the 
present day. I do not say they do not believe what 
they write, or that they do not see some phenomenal 
development in the likeness of the various animal 
organisms which suggests to them that they may 
have developed from the one parent, for I must con- 
fess, if one's mind were turned that way and any 
prejudice should exert its influence, we might easily 
construe all we beheld to read to our imaginations 
only evolution. But while there are some things 
which may suggest this, there are many things which 
are of vast importance and weight which cannot be 
reconciled by such a theory. 

It seems to be the case with many, that when a 
man commences to build up a theory, and is continu- 
ally looking from one standpoint, he is apt to see 
everything as colored by that medium, and that alone 
through which they look, let it be philosophy or the- 



OF, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 7 

ology; and all other theories, be they ever so plausi- 
ble to an unprejudiced mind, cannot be tolerated as 
having even a shade of truth. 

Many times science has had to retreat, re-survey 
its field and fight again its battles, for time had 
proved its theories false. So, also, theology has had 
to surrender some of her beloved ideas, cherished 
so long by our forefathers. Not because of the un- 
truth of the Word, but because of misinterpretation ; 
and science failed because of the determination of its 
votaries to fight it out on scientific principles, and 
those alone, as well as from their inability to read 
Nature's laws and interpret them as they really exist, 
therefore neither is infallible. If I had laid before 
me two offers or propositions, the one giving sub- 
stantial results as gain and the other nothing — if I 
were obliged to choose from the two — although I 
might have some doubts equally in both, I surely 
should chose the one that would give me prospects 
of good returns in the end. 

So it seems to me that those who hold out the 
theory of materialism and no future happiness, when 
they see, as they do, their inability to establish it 
firmly by their philosophy to ease their anxious minds 
and restless spirits, would flee to that which offers 
hope, rather than cling to that which offers none; but 
such are the peculiarities of mankind. 

If matter was the only existing substance, and 



I 8 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

power and all force was evolved from this material, 
and that tangible matter did not result from a power 
higher than matter, then we might believe in the 
power of matter to advance in grade of existence 
and evolve mind ; but it seems as inconsistant as was 
the act of the foolish boy who stepped into a basket 
and taking hold of the handles gave a vigorous lift to 
elevate himself to a higher plane. 

But if the higher order of existence and power 
were first, then we would believe that matter and or- 
ganized bodies were formed because of force, or a 
higher power, whatever its nature may be ; and if we 
can reason thus, then we have a solution to the great 
problem of life ; otherwise you may rake over the 
countless volumes of Nature's laws for ceaseless ages 
and you will fail to find the philosopher's stone that 
will solve this problem of vital force and human life 

Then the geologist and naturalist, and embryolo 
gist would teach us that all embryonic life is the same, 
that there is no material difference between the 
ovum of the lower order of animals and man, 
that they are all composed of albumen, observe 
the same order of development, and as they progress 
in that order of growth, pass through the likeness of 
all the lower species, at last arriving at the plane 
intended; that they are governed in their devel- 
opment and their future plane of being by the envi- 
ronment or influence of external nature and impres- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 1 9 

sions. And they have so magnified the matter by 
their own imaginations that they verily believe the 
folds in the neck of the human embryo are the veri- 
table gills of a fish, and that the elongation of the 
spine, caused by a lack of development of the gluteaus 
muscles, is the veritable tail of its ancester, the mon- 
key. If these things be true, and we have no further 
safeguard to our being, the ingenuity of scientific men 
and inquisitive mind of man will yet find some means 
of stopping the further development at the different 
stages of existence, and populate the earth with all 
the varied forms and curiosities of living beings that 
mind can imagine. And it is being talked at the 
present day, by a set of so-called scientists, that spe- 
cies of human life will be propagated without the aid 
of sex. According to their vague, and worse than 
false theories, if the ovum or egg of all are the same, 
they would only have to bring them under the same 
influence and environment and any or all could become 
human. It would seem no philosophic mind could 
help but believe that there was an entity — a life — a 
force within the parent cell, which, when unfolded, as 
is destined to be, will develop the form of man and 
nothing else, or into the same species or kingdom as 
that from which the vital force was taken. 

Was it the environment that formed the shell of 
the clam? Was it the continual working of the bi- 
valve that formed the hinge of the shell, that it 



20 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

might be protected by the closing of the door of its 
house? 

Was it the instinct of the duck that led it to the 
water, and then, when there, by a constant effort to 
swim, causing a working of the feet and toes, result- 
ing in the development of web feet ? Was it not 
the same power which gave it the instinct that fitted it 
at the same time to occupy this watery home; or 
gave wings to the eagle to soar in the azure blue, and 
beak and talons to tear its prey? 

Was it the struggles of the fishes to glide through 
the mighty deep, sport in the sunbeams along the 
shoals, and gather their food from the washings of 
the shores, that brought forth fins ? 

W T as it the struggles of the reptile wriggling among 
the rocks and plains that brought forth feet and 
caused it to assume an upright form and walk; or 
efforts to soar through the heavenly spheres that 
caused the mighty wings to grow and make the won- 
derful flying-dragon that geologists give as relics of 
days and ages gone ? 

Was it the instinct of the ape that caused it to 
seek a more upright position, refuse to use it 3 
fore feet for locomotion, change its form and re- 
fused to use its tail as a useful member until it drop- 
ped from his body for want of something to do, and 
so gradually worked its way up to man ? Who super- 
vised all this progress of development of the ontogeny 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 2 1 

of man ? If these were facts, would it not be as 
great an effort for Divine mind — aye, and even more, 
than to make them and endow them with the power of 
propagation of their own species, and that alone? 

They speak of species caused by the freaks of na- 
ture and monstrosities, but history shows that mon- 
strosities do not lead out in the population of our 
world, but soon fade from view, leaving only a slight 
tendency to the return of the same deformity much 
less than to a perfect form, and then the)* lose their 
power of propagation, and only for new departures 
would fade away, for all such influences tend to a de- 
generation of kind. 

Scientists have raked over the fields of the present 
and past ages, and have solved, as they believe, a 
great mystery*, viz : that all flesh is composed of the 
same substance, and therefore they must be descend- 
ents of the same great ancestry* ; that the change of 
form and function is caused by the external influence 
and environment, as if form and figure were all. 

We might as well say the same of iron and other 
existing matter which surround us on all sides. 

We have viewed the locomotive standing upon the 
track, or moving along the rails like a thing of life; 
we see it composed of wood, iron, brass and steel ; 
we then pass along a deserted road, and standing by 
the open field, we observe a machine with wheels 
composed of iron and wood and steel ; we observe it 



22 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

has been fashioned by some power similar to that 
with which the locomotive had been framed ; a man 
comes along and says that it is a riding plow ; no, 
says the philosopher, it is the father of the iron horse, 
because it is composed of steel, iron, wood and 
brass, not taking in connection the fact that their use 
is not the same, and although they came into exist- 
ence by the action of the forces of the mind of man, 
mechanical force and chemical force, yet the object of 
their creation was different, and their sphere of action 
is different. One is a machine which is to be drawn, 
and so secondly become a benefit and a useful thing ; 
the other is a condenser of force, and acts as a tract- 
or or mover of thousands of tons weight ; not that 
it had to be first a riding plow and then a locomotive, 
but that matter was subject to the same power of 
mind, and that this power, knowing the sphere of 
usefulness that each should occupy, constructed each 
from similar matter, to be subservient to the differ- 
ent forces which should move them. So with man ; 
he is composed of a substance similar to the lower 
animal — bone, flesh and blood — fashioned and framed 
to meet the plane of usefulness which was in view in 
his creation ; composed of the inorganic matter 
which is gathered from the recesses of the organic 
and inorganic world, and which has migrated, moved 
and changed from one element to another, perhaps 
through the chain of vegetable or animal life — lime, 



23 

soda and potassa, iron, phosphates and carbonates — 
all taken by this life force and molded, shaped and 
prepared by organic and animal life for the building of 
a structure far superior to all others existing upon 
our earth — the king of creation — MAN ! 

No other life or force could take the material and 
fashion and build this structure but the organic and 
vital life of man. 

It is the life and vital force which has gathered 
and appropriated the elements to the building of this 
temple, and they are not new elements, for they 
have existed from the old Eozoic period, through 
countless ages to now, only waiting for the hand of 
the Great Master Workman to place them in the great 
structure of the human body. Fashioned by the 
one great mind of divine law, to occupy a differ- 
ent plane of life, and subserve the different forces of 
the higher creation. Not that man must first be a 
monkey to be a man, and thus be possessor of flesh, 
but the same mind that fashioned the first germ of 
life, by the same power could take the same matter, 
and with an activity of the same mind construct dif- 
ferent machines of life to go forth and fulfill the mis- 
sion of the world. So, also, steel is not only the 
agent for the action of steam, but is a medium for 
the force of magnetism and the conductor of the 
force of electricity. It enters into the formation of 
massive structures. It forms the ax that cleaves the 



24 THOUGHTS ON MAN ; 

mighty forest, and the hammer that crushes the hard- 
est rock. 

So animal life, and flesh and blood, are the founda- 
tion of the plane of the living world ; but the divine 
mind has given to each a plane of life and usefulness, 
and endowed man, especially, with a power which does 
not exist in any other created being, and that is the 
power of progression, invention and moral conception. 
The monkey will imitate, while man originates. T. 
H. Huxley says: the apes in the forests of Africa 
assemble around the dying fires of the traveler and 
enjoy the warmth of the few remaining coals, but 
never replenish the dying embers. They have no 
power to advance in their mode of life and knowledge, 
except as each is taught by man, and then it is 
performed as a mechanical act, but with no ideational 
thought. 

I have seen a native of the lowest tribe of the 
American Indian — one of the Root Diggers of the 
plains — taken when a small child and, brought up un- 
der the influence of civilization, develop into a 
man of talent and usefulness. His physique showed 
the blood of his ancesters, and his features were pe- 
culiar to his race. Profanity was not heard in him ; 
he was apt in the customs of the whites ; advanced 
rapidly in cla'ssical education, and stood foremost in 
his class ; served in the late war — a good and faithful 
soldier — and afterward preached the gospel to his 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 25 

people, and now is professor of a school for the edu- 
cation of his people, well advanced in the profession. 
If he had remained where he was, to-day he would 
have been wandering" the plains, enjoying his wild, 
uncultivated state of savage life. 

You say it was cultivation ; so it was, but we had 
that which to cultivate and expand. He had a 
brain capable of expansion — capable of multiplying 
thought ; he had the machinery wherein was the pre- 
requisite for the expansion of forces, therefore, the 
forming of ideas and logical conclusions in the mind. 

Christian influences will develop such beings as 
these; civilization will in turn feel the influence of 
their minds and respond to their thoughts. 

But how is it with the ape? What is the experi- 
ence of those who have raised them and kept them 
in the midst of civilization? Are they not where 
they stood one thousand years ago — no ideas, no 
progression ? 

Have they, with all their training, developed into the 
most meagre form of mental energy ? They neither 
inherit nor acquire the faculties of the mind of man. 
It is all imitation and no progression with them. 

The reason of this is plain ; the machinery neces- 
sary for this great function in the structure of the 
brain was left out ; there was no necessity for such a 
thing, for the sphere of life it was to occupy was be 
low this scale of being. And why left out ? Simply 



26 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

because there were no forces intended in the great 
plan of Almighty Mind to endow it with this power, 
as it was reserved for a higher and nobler being than 
they — Man. 

Man is graded according to his privileges and chris- 
tian cultivation, and advances in that ratio. 

But the ape — show me one that has advanced to 
the line of lowest man ; or one that has been seen to 
manifest a desire to worship a being supposed to 
possess or even represent a creative power. Show 
me one that, by its own powers of mind, has advanced 
one step in its mode of living from what it was 
thousands of years ago, or made an invention by its 
imaginative thought and mental conception. 

Where is the difficulty? You see all the parts of 
the brain developed as in man, but in a lesser degree, 
it is true. Take the brain of the ape and subject it 
to analysis, and you find it containing the same 
chemical properties ; if material, only, was necessary 
to formation of mind, you should find it there ; per- 
haps not so intense, but in all of the forms of ideas, 
expectation and imagination. Chemical analysis re- 
veals no substance called mind, or answering to its 
nature. It must be an intangible substance — an im- 
ponderable agent — something which only responds to 
the test of mind and forces of soul. Then why are 
we not justified in saying that matter of the brain is 
only a medium through which the forces of the mind 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 27 

pass — a possessor of an incorporeal entity, differing 
not in matter, but in spiritual entity — a different 
power in the ape than in man — taking up its abode 
in animal matter — the same chemically, yet differing 
in mechanism, to subserve the purpose of life which was 
marked out for it to follow down the ages of time. 

Show me the being that stands, as it must, accord- 
ing to science, with one hand of its ancestry grasping 
the hand of the lowest specimen of the human race, and 
the other dipping down into the animal kingdom and 
grasping the paw of the ape, uniting this great vacancy 
in development which Darwin calls "The Missing Link." 

If the ape lives to-day, and has lived for 30,033 
years, where, Oh where, is the developed race that 
has brought us up out of this wilderness of mon- 
keydom, and stands in the mediatorial state to show 
us of our parental life ? . Here the principal as ad- 
vanced by Darwin, of " Survival of the Fittest," would 
fall to the ground, for it implies a survival of the 
higher order and extinction of the lower order; but 
here we have it reversed. The question, then, in the 
creation of species seems to be, whether there is not 
the working out of a design originating in a Supreme 
Being, by gathering and utilizing the different laws 
in existence to frame the different forms which occupy 
the various spheres of life; or whether the instinct 
or intuitive force given the creature causes it to put 
forth efforts to use the rudimentary organs, as Dar- 



28 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

win and others claim, causing them to grow and de- 
velop into full and useful members. Even if we 
should concede the latter proposition, we would have 
to account for the origin and direction of this intui- 
tive force and instinct, for the accomplishment of a 
purpose; for there could not exist within the creature 
an inherent intelligence to cause it to exert a power 
for that end even after it had been created, as they 
would claim, by evolution. It would be more rea- 
sonable and easier for us to conceive of the idea of an 
arrangement of the laws and forces, or instruments 
in the hands of the Great Architect to meet the 
wants of a creative power. All plans revert back to 
this point and stand as proof of an object in the 
various forms and multiplication of species in animal 
life. Evolutionists have tried to establish the theory 
of man evolving from the ape by the selection of 
monstrosities and abnormalities of the human specie. 
Some being exhumed from the midst of the plains, 
some from caves or mountain cliffs. While writing 
there is being exhibited a specimen of the wonders 
oi the age advertised to be ths petrified body of a 
Cave or Cliff Dweller of the prehistoric race. It 
was found in a cave in the Bad Lands of Dakota, 
U.S., July 20, 1885. Its heighth is about three and 
a half feet; arms reached below the knees; feet and 
hands ordinary size, and similar in shape to those of 
a small woman. The arms were strong, and the ves- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 29 

sels filled with blood, petrified, stand out in full lines, 
as does, also the cords of the hands, feet and wrists ; 
the thighs and legs small and shrunken, were short 
in proportion to the arms ; the pelvis was narrow ; 
body tapering and long in proportion to the legs, but 
compared well in length with the arms ; shoulders 
large and broad ; the neck had receded between the 
shoulders, probably after death, and during the 
changing thereto. 

The head would have done credit to any ordiuary 
sized wcman ; the chin was short and narrow,and 
compared well with the superior maxillary bone ; 
nose of normal size and well developed ; molar bones 
were high and well apart ; the lips were slightly part- 
ed, showing five teeth some what worn, indicating age; 
skull well developed, and of large size for a body of 
that stature, with low forehead, but wide through 
and above the temples. The top of the skull stood 
high, comparatively, and wide and full, comparing ex- 
ceedingly well 'with the skulls of the present age, 
and bore on its face and features the likeness of an 
Indian. To the mind of one who was unprejudiced 
and searching for truth, it would reveal a human form 
of an abnormal shape and size, likely a dwarf of the 
Indian race. But if it be a specimen of the prehis- 
toric race of man, then it also shows a great degree 
of intelligence; and if by natural selection, as Dar- 
win would claim, there has been caused an increase 



30 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

in the size and figure, and higher grade of being, pro- 
gressing to the present state of man ; then, in that 
natural selection, the lower part of this specimen was 
not effected tnereby, but the forces of evolution were 
altogether spent upon the head ; giving it a perfect 
woman's face and brain, with marks of full intelli- 
gence, and leaving the lower extremities in a state of 
non-evolution, or in the condition that Darwin would 
have the race 20,000 years ago. Either this, or else 
man has developed head and brain first, then worked 
his physical development by evolution up to its pres- 
ent standard, since the origin of the race, If those 
long arms indicated its relation to the babboon or 
ape, then there has been indeed a wonderful freak of 
nature to produce such a disparity in the evolution of 
the body and limbs as compared with the head. 
For the head was as symmetrical and the face as 
perfect in shape as any American Indian I ever saw, 
clearly showing the powers of intelligence of the 
present age or the capabilities of its acquirement. 
If this specimen was related to the ape, or some 
chain, then there should have been the same likeness 
in the head and face as in the comparative length of 
the limbs. 

If some dwarfed and malformed specimen of hu- 
manity should be buried at the present time in a land 
slide of the mountain range, and exhumed 4,000 
years from now, petrified from the action of the soil, 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 3 I 

I suppose it would be exhibited as a perfect repre- 
sentation of the human species of the present day. 
It would doubtless be exhibited as a proof that, by 
evolution, we had attained to a higher state of being", 
to the gigantic stature of a perfect man. In that 
day, as now, we would find men, who, unwilling to 
receive the truth and hoping to sustain some theory 
which harmonized with their skeptical minds, and de- 
nied the power of a personal God, would hold it out 
as the only possible solution to the strange phenom- 
ena which had come to their vision, unscrupulous of 
the evil result of such logic. 

Evolutionists believe that they have a connecting 
chain down the line of living creatures, but not com- 
plete, for they at once come abruptly to a wide ex- 
panse, called " The Missing Link," and have, with 
their imaginations, to leap this fatal gulf in order to fol- 
low out their line of cherished thought. 

But when they come to man they stand in awe, 
scanning the wide expanse caused by the broken 
chain. Not only this, but the link that should unite 
the monkey with the man is gone. Spirited away, 
perhaps, or removed by natural laws unknown. They 
look in vain. Their theory must not be lost, so they 
cling to their theory by faith, by a seeming stronger 
faith than they would even cling to Him who first 
made earth and rained, as they believe, upon it the 
first small germ of life; and after all their anxious 



32 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

work, how sad and cruel to explode their theory, and 
leave the creation to an Almighty God, thus bring- 
ing all their imaginative ideas of man's creation to 
naught, and cause them to be shorn of their glory, 
and bring into disrepute that upon which so much 
labor and research has been bestowed, causing the 
glory of the evolutionist to fall forever. Then we 
must by force of reason conclude that, as man has in 
his wisdom and knowledge, by the action of finite 
mind, constructed the different machines and useful 
appliances for the trades and professions common to 
his life, to best subserve his own interests, so the 
Divine Mind has constructed the different forms of 
living bodies — the clam, the fish, the dog, the ox, the 
horse, the ape and the man— to fill the different 
spheres and planes of life and usefulness, to act as 
mediums of the working power ol each. It shows a 
oneness of mind and power, an adaptibility of the 
created forms to the demands of an established law. 
It further demonstrates that the Creator contem- 
plated, in fashioning that living and thinking machine 
— MAN — what would be his functions and abilities. 

If this were not so, it would be like a piano with 
one string — no harmony in nature — no blending of 
the beauties and figures — no harmony of force — no 
association of mind — but one unbroken, monotonous 
sameness throughout all time. 

As the engine may be constructed to bear the 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 33 

pressure from force of steam of 1,000'pounds to the 
square inch, it yet depends upon the construction of 
the cylinder, the shafts and the levers to be able to 
exert the force in an ordinate motion, and of progres- 
sion, then, the mechanism is as necessary as the force. 
So it is with the mind of man. The inherent force 
must necessarily have a medium through which to 
exert itself, and that medium was constructed from 
animal matter, possessed with vital properties to 
make life, and forms the frame, the muscles, the nerv- 
ous system, corresponding to the mechanism of the 
engine, through which the incorporeal entity of man 
controls, as the engineer, with one hand on the throt- 
tle and the other on the lever bar, he"masters his al- 
most living machine, that speeds its way from one 
extreme of our continent to the other. Some made 
the recipient of the noble freight of human life, oth- 
ers carrying less responsible charges to their destina- 
tion. 

So with animal matter; it is made the recipient of 
the greatest being of earth — ; MAN. It is also the 
medium of subordinate forces that move in a lower 
plane of existence, to meet the wants and necessities 
of man. It is true the anatomist studies the struc- 
ture of the human frame, the physiologist both the 
structure and functions, because they are inseparable 
to a thorough understanding of the human system. 
But to understand man in all the relations of his 
3 



34 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

triple nature, you must also study the nature of the 
incorporeal substance, and with reason penetrate fur- 
ther into Nature than the eye alone can reach. The 
burden of proof does not rest with us in this matter, 
but upon the evolutionist. For, from the beginning 
of man, handed down from generation to generation, 
and as far as has ever been recorded in history, it was 
believed that man was made a separate creation. 
This principle was instilled into the minds of the 
most degraded savages by their ancestors. The cus- 
toms and superstitions, as well as their worship, tell 
the tale and give unmistakable evidence of a fallen 
state of existence, rather than one undergoing a pro- 
cess of elevation and advancement into a higher grade 
of mental endowment. Not until civilization, with 
its christian principles and practices changes the hab- 
its of the people, and^modify their perverted minds, 
will they be restored to their proper standing in life. 

All the permanent advances of science to the pres- 
ent time, tend to strengthen the history of creation 
as recorded in the Bible, and lead to a better under- 
standing of it. 

And as the pages of the scientific world are un- 
folded, it will* be a reproduction of what the Bible 
has recorded, condensed, as it is, which only opens to 
the mind, that with persistent effort and inspired 
thought, can elucidate the facts. 



()K, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 35 

The better able we are to separate the functions 
of the life, the mind and the soul, the better able will 
we be to see the vast expanse that lies between the 
animal life and the human soul. 

As magnetism differs from chemical force, so, also, 
does animal life differ from the soul life of man. 
Like the former, the)* may both occupy the same 
matter, traverse the same substance, and influence 
the same atoms, but only in their own way and man- 
ner of force. One cannot perform the office of the 
other or exert its power. For they are bound down 
and confined by immutable laws which forbid the in- 
terchanging of function. As bodies are held together 
by chemical force, and are the medium for the influ- 
ence of electricity and magnetism, so the body of an- 
imal life is the medium and recipient of the human 
soul. As far as the heavens are above the earth, so 
far is the soul life superior to animal life, and sepa- 
rated by as great an expanse, which cannot be bridged. 

When we take- a close observation of the nature 
and habits of man, we see in him, by his every work, 
the manifest principle of order; with his other facul- 
ties he inherited it from the beginning. It was a part 
of his created faculties, which came to him by reason 
of his inheritence, which must have been derived by 
way of a gift or legacy of his Father, Maker or Cre- 
ator. If, then, it be a gift of his Father, or the Cause 



36 THOUGHTS ON MAX ; 

of his being, then the same principle must have ex- 
isted in the Father prior to this gift to the created. 
As a proof of this, we see on every hand evidence 
to that effect. Matter which has existed prior to 
the creation of man. speaks loudly of this nature in 
the Supreme Being, "for the firmament showeth His 
handiwork." 

Order was the first principle in the formation of 
the world. Purpose was also another principle nec- 
essary, and then another on which all rests, is His 
Power. 

We look at the starry heavens, and behold order. 
We note the revolution of the earth, and realize or- 
der. We behold the growth of trees and plants, and 
find that all observe order. We see the multiplica- 
tion of animal life, and are held spell-bound in com- 
plete wonder at the order and harmony of all. Or- 
der is one of the fundamental principles of God. and 
from Him came the inherent principle to systemize 
all things with which He has to do. Another law, 
or characteristic of the Great Maker, is economy. 
This is also a principle which man tends to naturally. 
Although imperfect in its strict sense, yet to some 
degree it is manifested in all the human race. It 
came to man through his nature, proving the three- 
fold nature of man. He is, therefore, material, asso- 
ciated with material forces. He is of the higher 
organized matter, consequently, is possessed of vital 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 37 

force. He is also a spiritual entity, and in this gift 
is the possessor of the principles of God. 

We see economy practiced in all the works of the 
Creator. So far as we now know, He took the six- 
ty-five or sixty-seven substances which the earth 
contains, and formed all things — the clay, the grass, 
the tree and all vegetable substances, are construct- 
ed of some portion of these substances, and the laws 
of their nature, as established by Him, are unchange- 
able. 

Again, we look at the lowest animal organism and 
behold the same substances, possessed with a differ- 
ent force, for instead of building the structure of the 
vegetable world, we have another force at work, in 
matter called animal life and vital force. As we rise 
in the scale, we see the addition of other substances, 
according as the purpose demands, up to the perfect 
developed animal form of bone and sinew, flesh and 
blood, the basis of all animal structure. 

Then we come to man, who inherits a principle 
which is not found in any other being lower than he, 
and physically we find the same substances we found 
in the lower order of life. We see by this that the 
Maker of all things used the simple matter of which 
earth, in its primitive state, was composed, as a basis 
for all his work of a higher order of life, to form the 
physical structure and necessary foundation for the 



38 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

development of the higher order of life. Then adding 
thereto such other forces and powers as would form 
the being He purposed in His mind, showing in each 
successive step, order, economy and purpose, as a 
fundamental principle of Divine Mind. 



35(c) 



DEVOLUTIONS 



CHAPTER II. 



Moneron life from out the sea, 

In primeval state, as first it was beheld 

By anxious eyes that in the depths did delve! 

Marched on in rank and file, 

Joined by anxious, crowding hords, 

Such as the mighty ocean blue affords ! 

Clams and fishes of the sea, 

Anxious for the Evolution birth, 

Swarmed in myriads upon the teeming earth, 

Working their way to higher life. 

The object seemed, from monkeydom to clam, 

To work, by Evolution's power, to man! 

They each found chasms they could not cross; 

A higher state bevord they now beheld; 

Imagined the Evolutiou tree unfold. 

Man then looked, and looked, to find 

The " Link," that torn from Evolution's chain, 

Was driven back to creative power again! 

JJ?OW, in the evolution of man, there are certain 

feep« things to be observed. There are what Dar- 

i, 
©AS win, and others, call the " Missing Links," where 

<§> they cannot trace one state ot existing matter 

into a state of existence higher and is several 

successive steps up the ladder of created being, so 



40 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

they try to fill the vacant place with imaginary con- 
clusions, which tax the mind far stronger to conceive 
than to grant the power of endowment of life to that 
Power which first gave birth to the existence of mat- 
ter. That such a power did exist none will deny, 
whether in'its primitive, gaseous state or otherwise. 

Matter is a servant of force, and according to the 
nature of that force, will be changed to represent its 
different states of existence. 

Inorganic matter has existed since our world began, 
and yet exists, subject to the forces of chemistry 
and gravitation ; but you don't believe that these forces 
alone could even make vegetable life, for all matter 
has been subjected to these same forces from the be- 
ginning of time, and yet it remains inorganic. Yet, 
wherever you go, up through the whole world of 
creation, in all its material relations, you will find.it 
still existing. 

When we look upon vegetation we see it in its 
two-fold state of matter and vegetable life. What 
has happened ? Simply another force has taken pos- 
session of matter and has organized it — and that 
force is life. It was not so before, and will not be 
when it leaves it. Now, this force of life is not 
chemical force, or gravitation, although they both ex- 
ist in the new creation. This substance of earthy 
matter is made a medium, through which this life is 
made manifest ; and it convinces us that there was 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 41 

an object in this new formation. It occupies the po- 
sition of the first round in the ladder which reaches 
heavenward toward the higher state. Where did 
this force originate ? If there was an object in its 
formation, then it must have come from mind, for 
ideas can originate only in mind. 

Now, when we consider the next step of higher 
development, we are just as much at a loss to know 
where the departure was first made as we were in the 
instituting of vegetable life, for we can take the whole 
substance of the animal body and reduce it to the 
same natural element which exists throughout the 
earth ; but when that is done life is gone ; we ha*ve 
animal life no longer, but the substance cannot be de- 
stroyed. Chemical force yet takes hold of all the 
matter; also* gravitation shows its power and force. 
We find no medium completely uniting the vegetable 
and animal kingdoms. Here, again, is " The Missing 
Link." But what have we ? 

We have a higher state, or organization — earthy 
matter organized under a new power, or force, which, 
instead of forming wood fibre forms muscular fibre, 
and the molecules forms protoplasms, and they or- 
ganized in form, pointing toward a certain end and 
purpose. 

Then there is a force that takes hold of this organ- 
ism which gives it life, and the force, or life, or sub- 
stance, whichever you please to call it, acts through 



42 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

the medium of this organized matter, and moves as 
that force chooses, and for its sustenance preys upon 
the substance of vegetable life, converting it into 
food for the tissue, so multiplying its protoplasms 
and adding strength and stature to the body. Now, 
these protoplasms of animal life cannot be created 
from vegetable substance, or inorganic matter only, 
as the protoplasms undergo the budding and growing 
process from their parent cell. Then in the move- 
ment of animal life we see an object which shows to 
us that there is a wide chasm between the vegetable 
anb! animal kingdoms, and forces us to believe that it 
is another separate and existing force, life or sub- 
stance, invisible to us, and only using the lower plane 
of existing life as its servant and medium of its power. 
Profs. Hackel and Darwin disagree in their con- 
clusions as to the origin of animal life. Darwin says 
it was bestowed upon the lowest animal organism 
by the breathing of the Creator, while Hackel says 
it came into existence, not by supernatural creation, 
but by spontaneous generation out of inorganic mat- 
ter. Now, it is evident to any reasoning mind, that 
inorganic matter contains no power within itself to 
generate a force above its plane of existence. In 
order to have even matter change its nature of form, 
there must be the action of force according to the 
change to be wrought. Now, if this force did exist, 
there must have been a creator of it, for force cannot 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 43 

be a spontaneous generation ; and this would be as 
difficult for Prof. Hackel to get over as would be the 
primitive creation by the Supreme Being. 

In order to have the coal formed in the bowels of 
the earth, it was necessary to have the force of light 
and heat, and a chemical force. If force did not ex- 
ist before the substance was changed, it could not 
have been changed in its nature to coal. And now 
comes the question, from what source was this force 
derived, if not from the Great Creator? If God had 
first to create a force, or law of development, and 
supervise all the changes by evolution and environ- 
ment, He had a harder task to perform than to sim- 
ply create a law of forces for each scale of being and 
say, " Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther.' 

The law of being, existing in the living world, 
might be well illustrated by comparing it with the 
planetary system. Each planet is governed within 
its orbit by its own laws and forces of motion — its 
own gravitation and polarity, chemical affinities and 
other inherent laws over which the other planets have 
no control ; and yet there is one general law that is 
applied to all, and a controlling power over all which 
binds them together by association of power, and all 
this time go on as separate creation. 

So the creation of life — vegetable, animal and hu- 
man—are separate entities, forces, or powers. Sepa- 
rated by a wide expanse or insurpassable gulf, each 



44 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

governed by its peculiar force of vitality, modified by 
the demands for its state of existence; each contain- 
ing its procreative and transmutation of force, neces- 
sary for its progression in the plane of its existence, 
and that alone, independent of other beings. 

If animal life came of spontaneous generation, and 
cultivation and environment were all that was neces- 
sary for the formation of man, then let them take, 
with their scientific knowledge, the moneron, and 
study its nature and control it by certain surround- 
ings, and bring it under the influence of the different 
grades of being — of the clam, the fish, the beast, the 
ape and man — and have a new race — yes, hundreds 
and thousands of new races. Human curiosities as 
various as mind can imagine. 

Our learned professors and naturalists are losing 
time by not experimenting on the germs of animal 
life, and raising hordes of posterity to themselves by 
imitating the influences of nature for this develop- 
ment, and so spare the pain, burden and hardship of 
the natural course* of reproduction, and thus dispose 
of male and female as superfluous. All could be 
done by " the Survival of the Fittest," selection and 
environment; and as they say, especially the foetus 
of man has to go through all the successive changes 
of fish and monkey to become man — 'before being 
fully developed to the likeness of its, now, parent, and 
ushered into this natural world. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 45 

This would be pulling man through a succession of 
steps in a short time, while it has taken nature mil- 
lions of years to perform the same by her weak forces. 
What a mighty victory this would be for the mate- 
rialists ! 

Then they might argue, with some reasonable pros- 
pect of success, that something was created out of 
nothing, and that law and force had no Maker; that 
the work of formation and progression goes on in the 
form of chance, without intelligence. 

But in trying to demolish a religious theory of a 
God and Maker, of intelligence, of which we are par- 
takers, they demolish one of the foundation stones 
of their own theory, and bring shame upon the scien- 
tific world. 

Now, as to the development of the Mammalian 
race from the one common trunk, or root of animal 
existence, and the sub-dividing into, as it were, the 
different branches by natural selection and environ- 
ment, and as it is taught by Darwin, according 
to that theory there is always a "Survival of 
the Fittest." This would imply that the weaker, 
mentally and physically, would necessarily die and 
pass out of existence, while the stronger and more 
active, as well as the more intelligent and shrewd, 
would perpetuate their existence until some chance 
shoot, or branch (because by this theory there 
could have been no design, as that would imply Di- 



46 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

vine Mind) should spring off from this branch, and 
in time make its parent extinct. 

We will go back to animal life as it is presented in 
its lowest Jbrm, as acknowledged by Darwin and 
Hackel found in the moneron, and we find a mighty 
space unfilled to unite animal with vegetable life. 

One carries on the forces of nutrition in absorbing", 
by vegetable function, the substance of the soil, and 
has been, in its vegetable state, handed down through 
ages, from long before animal life existed, according 
to their own theory, and remained in its unchanged 
vegetable state for millions of years, and no man 
could fail in identifying it as the same; but where is 
that existing being that ever filled the middle plane? 
If vegetable life yet lives, surely its higher develop- 
ment, or the " fittest " of the two, should live, if there 
was such. " The Missing Link," or the last letter that 
Nature never wrote, should be found and vegetation 
wiped out ! 

As to the non-identity of this voluntary move- 
ment of the moneron, or molusk, in its acts for nour- 
ishment with the vegetable world, as stated by Hackel 
and Darwin, none would be so foolish as to deny, or 
profess to be unable to differentiate between volun- 
tary movements and vegetable life. 

Should not the moneron, according to their theory 
of "the Survival of the Fittest," have been extinct 
millions of years ago ? for Darwin says ; " New and 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 47 

improved varieties will inevitably supplant and exter- 
minate the parent forms." 

But, instead of this, we find them the most abund- 
ant of all germs of earth; the ocean bed is teeming 
with their simple forms, unchanged, in form or habit, 
from their origin, at the end of the Eozoic age. 

As they multiply by separation, or division of their 
substance, without sexual function. When was 
the mighty leap made to change the manner of 
propagation to the by-sexual law of development, 
which characterizes the higher order of life, following 
immediately after in the Palaeozoic age? A law they 
would have us believe in, should be unchanging in its 
nature. 

Prof. Hackel says, in his history of creation, that 
the whale originated out of some hoofed animal, ac- 
customed to the water, and by non-use of its limbs, 
degenerated and transformed into a fish. It seems 
strange that Hackel, after laboring so hard to bring 
the whale, by evolution, into a beast, and then teaches 
"the Survival of the Fittest," will let go all hands and 
argue the beast back into a whale, to be able to ac- 
count for rudimentary bones which that fish is believed 
to possess, and so to remove the obstruction to his 
evolutionary theory. Here he removes the foundation 
from his own theory, for in teaching the retrogression 
he is destroying the theory of evolution. If this is, 
what is called by Hackel, evolution, then it is just as 



48 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

evident that the moneron, and all the lower order of 
creation, is a degeneration from man, as that man was 
an evolution from them. Here is a rule he designs 
to work both ways, but it is not applicable to his 
theory in proving evolution. 

I will speak of one more unreasonable conclusion, 
formed by the eagerness of the advocates of the evo- 
lution theory to cover theology with a cloud — and 
that is the branch of that great animal tree from 
which suspended the monkey — Hackel's or Darwin's 
would-be ancestor. 

This branch was the first to put forth and bear its 
species, and during its age, which yet exists, because 
the monkey exists, and did exist thousands of years 
before man, has abundance of fruit of its kind, for the 
tropical regions are yet filled with their species. 
Now, they would fain teach us that another species 
sprang as an offshoot from the monkey branch, en- 
joying a higher state of mental development, and 
higher form of physical being, from which man, in his 
tnrn, sprang, but this species^ has become extinct. 
There w r as a misstep in the chance work at this time, 
and the " fittest " was lost — destroyed — or'swallowed 
up in the great changing, strife, and mingling of the 
conglomeration of animal life. As Darwin says, here 
is a " Missing Link." The monkey lives, but our 
" fittest " brother in development of evolution — the 
ancestor of our race,, and father of ourj being*is_lo:t. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 49 

The " fittest " is obliged to again fall on the altar 
of their so-called science to save and preserve the 
theory of evolution. There is nothing remaining 
upon which to base such a theory, but imagination, 
that they may preserve their line of argument, to 
overthrow and uproot the principle of a design in the 
working of Nature, and a premeditated plan, to the 
working out of these so-called natural laws existing 
throughout all matter. 

Once again : Man, if he were depending entirely 
upon his instinct and physical nature for his protec- 
tion and subsistence, would be one of the weakest 
creatures of animal existence. His nature would 
not allow him to live, as do many of the lower ani- 
mals ; his power of physical endurance would not fit 
him for the struggle and contest for supremacy of 
being; his arm would be weaker than the gorilla's; 
his power to escape danger would be inferior to the 
ape's ; his fleetness less than that of the horse, and 
he would be powerless, without fangs or claws with 
which to tear his prey. Thus, we would find him 
the weaker of the mammalian race, driven from place 
to place, and following the path of the lost species 
now extinct. Man is supreme, only in and through 
the power of his mind; reason is his guide; inven- 
tions are his power. What the animal accomplishes 
with the power of physical life, man overcomes by 
his knowledge of physical law. To compensate for 
4 



50 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

lack of fleetness, he makes use of steam. To supply 
the sense of acuteness of hearing, he has the tele- 
phone. To compensate for dullness of vision, he has 
the grand telescope of untold power; all bringing 
within the power of man advantages before which no 
lesser creature could stand. For his protection he 
has fashioned weapons of steel, more piercing and 
effective than the fangs of the tiger, or the claws of 
the lion. With the knowledge of powder, his ene- 
mies drop, as by a thunderbolt, at such distances 
that danger is scarcely perceivable. 

If man came by evolving from the tribe of apes, 
he would have had to develop, first, in mental power, 
that he should be the fittest to survive, for upon the 
ape, physically, depends its power to live. Now, 
take from it, or weaken its physical and instinct- 
ive power, without giving it the power of reason and 
invention, and you have deprived it, of its means ot 
life. The gorilla, then, must first have the mind of 
man before changing its nature, as that would be vital 
to its existence. We have only to look at the 
degraded tribes of human life to see the effect of not 
making proper use of the mental power at their dis- 
posal — a degredation, degeneration and extinction of 
ac^s, and what would it be, were man physically 
what he is and lacking mental power ? 

We cannot but realize that there is a complication 
of forces — physical, chemical, vital and animal. These 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 5 1 

are not all one force, but each plays its own part, 
within its own latitude or sphere of existence, and 
are the rounds that furnish man the ladder to climb 
to the elevation of the higher plane of human life. 

When we look at these chains of human events, 
and can grasp with our minds this principle, then, it 
is not hard for us to conceive how animal substancec an 
be made the recipient of a still higher power, by 
changing its form and figure to suit the different cir- 
cumstances and positions which the being is intended 
to occupy. Such a being is man. Composed of 
flesh and blood, vitalized by vital force, and possessed, 
with animal life. He forms the head of the great 
procession of the animate beings, marching on through 
time. 

As vegetable life takes material and uses it to form 
a body for its presence, and through which it can act, 
so, a higher existing substance, uses the animal or- 
ganism and animalized nature through which to move 
and accomplish a work preparatory to the great 
change which is to follow ; and, that higher existing 
substance, or being, is the soul of man, which consti- 
tutes the principal difference between human and an- 
imal existence. 

Man has existed from the glacial period, developed 
the same as to-day, over a lapse of time, as given by 
scientists, of 30,000 years, and, according to science, 
the ape has existed for a longer period, and there was 



52 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

as marked a difference between man and the ape then 
as now. The imaginary branch said to be between 
the monkey and man is gone. If our ancestors were 
of the tribe of the ape family, surely the develop- 
ment would somewhere show an intermediate state, 
which evolutionists lament as gone, gone, gone! We 
say it never existed. How much more reasonable it 
would be to accord to the first origin of life the power 
to create from its great fullnes that which was to sub- 
serve the great plan that is evinced by the creation. 
In regard to the physical properties Of man, the par- 
ticles are changing continually, and in a few years the 
particles which compose the body will have gone, and 
new atoms and molecules will have taken their place. 
Now, man always holds his identity, and if you 
should meet him twenty years after, you would know 
him, because he looks the same, only age has worn 
its mark upon his face ; and yet, every atom has 
changed, and the new matter entering into the form 
assumes the same shape. And why all this trans- 
mission, and how does it come? Simply through 
the vital and mental forces. They stamp upon the 
new matter the vitality they are possessed of, and 
the mutual powers they are endowed with, in its 
latent form. 

Not that the vitality is composed of matter, but 
that a power has taken hold of matter to use and 
mold it for a purpose, and to transmit this power 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 53 

down the line of its species, which, when in its 
healthy state, will never fail to imitate the force of 
its parental cells, 

Now, if there was nothing but matter from which 
this power was to originate, then, when the atoms of 
the old body were gone, all would be gone. Or else 
the old particles existing must remain to the end of 
life. 

But no, the vital and mental force are like a great 
electrotype, that takes matter which has been pre- 
pared by its contact with living organism, and stamps 
upon it the indelible impressions of its vital power, 
and every part whieh enters into the work of con- 
tinuation of species, is possessed of this energy. 
Now, there is no law, nor philosophy, that can make 
matter change from its primitive natural state, only 
by the action of a higher power (as it would have to 
to form all the different organism of animal life and 
species), without a definite power to take charge of 
each species, and so transmit it down its line from 
generation to generation, and so preserve its identity 
and special nature, for ages. 

It is conceded and taught by physiologists, that 
from the earliest existence of life in man to the disso- 
lution of his body, there is a constant change in its 
material substance, removing the old atoms and add- 
ing new. If this be so, as all, with their present 
knowledge admit, then the mental impressions, heredi- 



54 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

tary influences, and transmutation of human suscep- 
tibility, are not transmitted through the material sub- 
stance, of which those bodies are composed, but by 
the vital and mental forces which control and com- 
mand the upbuilding of organic structure. It is this 
force, which we call incorporeal, which takes matter 
coming through the avenues for the supply of life, 
and stamps upon it the fiat of humanity, that vivifies 
its inorganic substance with vital power, and causes 
it to assume form and shape, like unto those which 
have been removed as useless matter, and weakening 
the walls of the habitation of man, in which the in- 
corporeal, immortal and invisible man dwells. This 
idea precludes the possibility of the theory of mate- 
rialism, for the dual nature and materialism of man 
could not exist together. 

In all the higher developments of creation, they 
are divided into the two sexes, and only in the two 
combined, exists the vital force necessary for their 
propagation. 

And in each individual, male and female, exists a 
trinity — body, spirit and soul. 

Now, in the multiplication of human life, it is just 
as necessary to have the unity of the forces of the 
soul power, as of the combination of the stimulus of 
organic life, and organic matter, to produce the new 
created being; and it takes from its parents all the 
principle of this being as to body, spirit and soul, 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH, 5 5 

becoming an independent organization, and entity, 
and taking from its different fields of life and sub- 
stance that which adds strength and power, symme- 
try and figure to the three great elements — substance, 
soul and spirit — which compose man. Now he be- 
comes an independent being, no more clinging to the 
forces of the parent for life, but wielding his own 
created power. 

I cannot conceive of the idea of a soul existing 
prior to the conceiving of the body, for this would 
imply the existence of a host of souls without bodily 
form. But I believe there exists within the female 
that which, when endowed with life, forms the phys- 
ical structure of the human frame, but must lay dor- 
ment until such forces take hold and work the wonders 
of creative power. 

So with the immortal forces of man ; there is a 
pre-requisite in the existence of the parents, male 
and female, which must act in harmony, and bring 
about a nobler creation than even the physical struc- 
ture of man, for it is composed of the invisible, inde- 
structible and powerful entity, the mind and soul. 

It is the higher power for which we contend, that 
it is this higher faculty that gives us faith in the 
future, and convinces us of another life. 

If we take the theory of evolution, we must natu- 
rally believe that there is a natural development of 
matter into mind, by a higher organization, of the 



$6 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

principles of which matter is composed. If this 
theory is correct, then we may look for physical man 
to advance from each generation into a higher state 
of being. While the parent dies and passes back to 
dust, the offspring of each generation will march on 
and on until they reach the angelic state, and cannot 
stop there, but become gods, creators of worlds, of 
powers and kingdoms, unknown to us now. 

But on the other hand, if we take the theory of 
the Bible, we believe God first took matter and form- 
ed an organism, and then instilled into that organism 
life from His peculiar nature, then, and not before, 
was it a living soul. It was a separate thing, a gift 
of the Creator, in whom was stored that power, and 
in Him alone. 

Then, when endowed with life and soul, He com- 
mands them to go forth and multiply and replenish 
the earth, and subdue all living things. This was a 
part of the mission of man, God then rested from 
His labors of creation, and the forces which were set 
in motion in the creation of the first man and his 
helpmeet — woman — are in progress to-day. The 
creation of souls goes on by this immutable law, not 
by an extra exertion of the Divine mind. It is gov- 
erned by circumstances and conditions which were 
contemplated in the speaking into existence of the 
great being now called MAN. 

This seems to give the only satisfactory solution 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 57 

to the problem of multiplication of human souls and 
continuation of species. 

In view of these facts, let those who persist in 
being a child of a monkey, enjoy all the satisfaction 
that can be found in such a theory. For me, I would 
be called a child of man, and claim the heritage of 
human mind. If, then, there are different forms,, 
scales and faculties of existing life, living and moving 
by reason of separate entities, each for its sphere, 
and that alone, is it not reasonable to believe that 
there is another grade of development into which 
man shall enter after fulfilling his mission in his pres- 
ent state, in which the life, the spirit and the soul 
will occupy a body of substance, not of earthly mat- 
ter, but suited to the higher plane of life it is to 
occupy? 

Matter cannot oi it self, create life for its elf, but must 
have been under the guidance and control of a Divine 
mind, and life must have come as a result of a gift 
of force from the fountain of force. We are unable 
to conceive of such a thing being done only to fulfill 
some grand object which is hastening on to a final 
consummation. In this higher state of existence we 
believe. 

Science cannot come to this conclusion by the plan 
of deduction, of mathamatical calculation, and meas- 
urement of angles, but only by the analysis of the 
rays of spiritual light, reflected by the prism of God's 



58 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

Word, and caught and read by the inspired soul of 
man. 

Science is like a man who is blind. He may be 
quite accurate in his conclusions, but he must be 
brought in contact with things to know them. In- 
spiration can observe by the eye of faith, objects far 
away, correctly know their nature and power, without 
bringing them into earthly contact. 

Man, then, is pre-eminent over all the created life, 
because he inherits all these different forces, and add- 
ed to them the greater gift of the attribute of God 
which makes him a responsible being, able to judge' 
of right and wrong, with a will to use them at his 
pleasure. Able to know and realize that there is a 
power, or being, whom he should adore, and to whom 
he should offer worship ; a being who rightfully de- 
mands his service. 

We see the truth of this statement proven by the 
fact that the ape, and all his tribe, has never evinced 
a disposition or tendency to worship and serve any 
being, or thing, or to realize any moral obligation. 
But on the contrary, to satisfy its own disposition 
and appetite, and by force of strength, and passionate 
desires, gain and hold their power. 

Man concludes by way of reason, and there has 
existed, by intuition, a sense of a Divine Being. Long 
before the present stage of knowledge, in the dark 
ages, and where the light of science and of God's 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 59 

Word had been hid, there were legends of gods and 
fairies, of the battling of the hosts of Heaven; of 
their fall and captivities, and of their release. Those 
tales were told to their children, and their children's 
children handed them down from age to age, until, 
when the light of God's Word was shed abroad in 
the fallen nations, we find that their stories and 
legends are symbols of the creation of the world and 
the forces of Heaven, the origin of man, his life, his 
fall and redemption, his final judgment and glorifica- 
tion, and a substantial idea of another life in a land 
of happiness. None have fallen so low but that 
they retained some idea of a superhuman and con- 
trolling power. 

An appetite is a desire or longing for something 
which is believed to exi< t, and in fact must exist, for 
an appetite or longing, or desire, is the impression 
left upon the sense of man, by the presence of the 
thing longed for. It may be natural, hereditary or 
acquired, but the fact of the longing is an evidence 
that there is a reality to long for. 

With man there has been a longing and yearning 
for an immortal state, for rest from toil and pain, and 
for joy everlasting. All nations and tribes have been 
impressed with this feeling and desire. They all be- 
lieve in a spirit and an Almighty power. They a!l 
look for a future state, a place, a somewhere, that is, 
or will be prepared, for a final abode. Some locate 



60 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

it in the heavens above, some in the earth beneath, 
some upon our globe, separated by a great river, 
which man can only cross in death, and that on the 
other shore, in the land of light and beauty, ther , is 
another river which divides the land again. ( n the 
one side is joy, peace and abundance, to supp v .he 
wants, no sickness or pain, no hunger or thirst On 
the other side is darkness and gloom ; privations are 
great, pain and sickness is constant. The inhabit- 
ants are poor and emaciated for want of food ; the 
evils that were on earth seem multiplied, and their 
misery is unbounded and everlasting. 

All nations worship and adore something which 
they think, either is, or represents, the Almighty 
Being. Some worship sacred rivers, some beasts, 
some birds and reptiles, some fire, some the sun, the 
moon, the stars, some the invisible forces of Nature, 
and some He, who is revealed in the Divine Word. 

What does this all teach? What is the solution 
to this problem ? Does it not teach us that there 
was instilled a desire, a longing, within the heart of 
man, by the presence of the knowledge of its exist- 
ence, or a foretaste of its pleasures, at the time of 
his creation, the idea of God and a future life that is 
continually looking and longing for that which none 
else can satisfy? Does it not teach us that existing 
with this universal desire there must be a remedy, 
and that remedy must be immortal life ? This desire 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 6l 

and this impression, in some form, exists in every na- 
tion and tribe on earth, and their legends and mysti- 
cal tales of first and primitive man, bear unmistakable 
evidence of a relation in primeval theology, and con- 
victions of soul-inspired men. 

But with the ape; who ever saw a desire mani- 
fested to worship, or a hope for other life? What 
reason have we to believe that there is the least con- 
ception of spiritual life or superhuman power? No 
moral conception of right, no power to advance in 
their scale above simple animal endowment and 
instinct, which was first given to its ancestral parent. 
To satisfy their physical desires is all the joy there 
is for them, for where there is no desire there is 
nothing to satisfy. No erys to see, no ears for spir- 
itual sound, no soul to feel, the love in God abounds. 

The animal is a creature of circumstances, simply : 
while man may control circumstances and apply them 
to his good, and battle with the influences of his 
daily life, and by reason of his superior gift, the 
soul, in addition to his animal life and spirit, he is 
made a god, as it were, over the lower world. 

But there is a higher life and plane of existence 
for man, and he is marching on toward a change, and 
by our past observation and experience, as well as by 
the Divine Word, we believe it to take place after 
death. And then will open up to us a grander and 
more glorious existence than we now behold, because 



62 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

the world we will occupy will far exceed the present 
in glory, majesty and power. In order for man to 
attain to this higher plane of life, he has a work 
to do. 

He was made a controller of his own ways, given 
mind and a sense of right, and now, to increase his 
higher sensibilities, he is made chooser of his future 
destiny, by taking to himself a force sent from the 
Spirit of the Throne of the Great Father, which wifl 
transform his soul to a higher sense and altitude, and 
fit it to occupy a most glorious body, in contempla- 
tion, not observed by natural eyes. 

To open up the way and make complete this plan 
of a higher life, it was necessary that the medium 
vacancy between the Creator and created should be 
occupied with a mediatorial power, and mingle the 
human with the Divine. This was found in the per- 
son of Christ, inheriting the substance of the Great 
Father, and the nature of man, capable of living and 
existing in both spheres, and through him the link 
which unites earth to Heaven, or God to man, is 
welded and made secure. 

The son of God (or to otherwise explain it, a por- 
tion of the substance of the Father, by a gift of 
himself to become manifest in the flesh in form of 
man, and to work out in the soul of man, offering 
for justification,) gives us a more direct communica- 
tion with the Creator of all things, for through the 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 63 

person ot Christ His Spirit is now made to act direct 
upon our immortal spirit, and so to modify and con- 
trol our desires and acts as to give us a course and 
tendency toward the Spirit of the Divine; and when 
we keep this chain or circuit complete and unbroken, 
then it is, we have communion with God. and our pe- 
titions to the Father, by reason of that association, 
are heard. The plays between the heart of man and 
the mind of God a force, that if used as God intends, 
will move the arm that moves the world, This ex- 
plains some of the power evinced by prayer, and its 
influence at the Fountain of all Good, that has con- 
trol of the universal world. 

But this theory does not support the principle of 
evolution ; for by that teaching we are led to the 
brink of the grave, and then told to look down into 
the black and dismal unknown. All is a dark waste ; 
no glimmer of light is there to cheer the longing 
desire for life. They whisper no futnre in our closing 
ears, while a nothingness greets our departing vision. 
They would have us glare with our glassy eyes of 
death into a vacant space of time, with nothing to 
see, and have our life and soul disseminated through 
the present world in a condition of latent force ; no 
power, no faculty, no identity. 

They take us up into the high mountains of science 
and show us the wealth of the knowledge of the 
world ; they fill our ears with promises of the present 



64 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

and the glories of the earth, but still as death is the 
voice of that which is beyond. They snatch from 
us our own and only hope of immortality, and offer 
us an empty future in its place; only dull, lifeless 
materialism, fenced in by unbelief -and infidelity ; a 
dark and gaping blank of future. 

As the condition of matter modifies the force which 
is manifest in it, so does the brain of man, in its vari- 
ous conditions of non-development and disease, mod- 
ify the action of the mind. The condition of the 
brain of the child, in its undeveloped state, is like 
electricity passing in its circuit through the medium 
of a conductor, in which the resistance, external and 
internal, are out of proportion to the intensity ; 
therefore the weak forces of the mind, by the slug- 
gish and inco-ordinate movements of the brain cells. 
As they become developed the intensity increases 
and resistance is less. The movements are more 
active and regular ; thought is more logical and clear, 
as they move onward toward the acme of life ; and 
in health are the last structure to give way, as we 
pass again down the decline of physical life. I say 
physical life, because of spiritual life, or the higher 
state of existence. Man is not affected intrinsically, 
by the change of matter, but is subject to other 
laws and forces. 

Here the resistance becomes greater, and thought 
slow and sluggish. The vital forces are on the wane ; 



65 

the molecules and atoms, of which the brain is com- 
posed, are inadequate lor the task of weaving the 
web of the tissues to supply the waste. Or, in other 
words, the vital forces have used these molecules to 
accomplish the work they were destined to perform 
and now are making their arrangements to take their 
departure when the final work is completed. 

Would we think, because the mind was dull, and 
the second childhood was creeping o'er the aged 
frame, that the force that gave impetus to the mind 
would lapse into nothingness and then be lost, with 
its activity of eighty years in experience and knowl- 
edge? 

No, verily ; it has gained an impetus that shall 
never die, but increase as ages roll along. 

It is only the devitalized tissue of old age, the 
resistance of the electrodes of life, which have acted 
as a conducting medium for the soul substance of 
man, obstructing its way, and the resistance is fast 
hastening to become equal to the intensity, when at 
last it shall cease, and the soul shall take up its abode 
in its new house, with its other living faculties, and 
speed on and on in its glorified state. Then the 
organic body, which has been the medium for the 
operation of the forces of man in this world, will go 
back to dust, let loose the bond of mortality, 
then the spirit of man will exist in a higher state of 
being, where there is no flesh to offer resistance to 
5 



66 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

the great formation of thought, and therefore we will 
know as we are known. 

We shall no more press our hand to our aching 
brow to collect our scattered thought, but with a 
clear perception, be able to measure the heighth and 
depth, magnitude and power of all that surrounds 
us in our immortal state. 

We need not stumble over the question of the im- 
mortality of the life of the beast. It neither adds 
to nor takes from man this responsibility, for by him- 
self he stands or falls, and where the spirit of animal 
life shall dwell, after separation from its body, will not 
change the destiny of man ; for where much is given 
much will be required, and it is evident that the 
brute creation has not transgressed the law by which 
it is governed, and therefore has not sinned because 
it has no knowledge of sin ; and although their 
spirits may live an endless life they have not the fac- 
ulty of progression; the same insurpassable gulf 
will there exist as in our present state. Al- 
though our mind cannot solve the problem of their 
future state, we can say with Job: ''who knoweth 
the spirit of man goeth upward while the spirit of 
the beast goeth downward." Suggesting the proba- 
bility of a future state though separated by wide ex- 
panse, and yet unable to comprehend the nature of 
the author of their life. 



~3THE INFLUENCE OF MIND> 



CHAPTER III. 



What mighty power is this that brings 

Into subjugation all living things? 

That looks beyond to mysteries untold 

And fixes the destiny of the human soul? 

That bids disease take a speedy flight, 

Makes strong the nerve and quickens sight? 

That restores the lame and bids the cripple walk, 

Gives hearing to the deaf and makes the dumb to talk? 

That stills the physique of the human frame 

And sends new life thrilling through the vein? 

That flies away in imaginative thought 

To gather gems no human hand hath wrought? 

Ah! Tis the mind, that immortal force, 

That mak?s man good, or, tends to make him worse. 

Yes, it's more, that through the bosom roll; 

It is the forces of the immortal soul. 

O examine the great Book of Nature's Laws is 

^■s the duty of every one at the present day. We 

oAp see the alphabet of her great principles in every 

leaf, bud, flower and tree. The ocean's pebbled 

shore, the studded canopy of heaven, are but 

title pages. Everywhere is written-LAW. It then 

remains for us to look, think, believe and understand, 



68 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

that we may put a right construction upon the works 
of Nature's laws and hand them down, along the 
line of ages, that we may more fully grasp the mys- 
terious powers of hidden things and roll back the 
cloud o'ershadowing mortal mind, and allow the 
rays of science to penetrate the fallow ground of the 
sluggish mind and bring forth its fruits to bless our 
fellow man. 

In this brief space I cannot give you all, nor 
could I in a hundred years, but here and there I 
would open a way that, perhaps, with hard labor, 
some future day, if not now, you'll grasp my idea 
and thus distil some little good from the labor of my 
pen. 

With all the advances of science, much darkness 
has existed in the minds of people as to the nature 
of faith healing, that has frequently come to our 
knowledge and caused much wonder and no little 
excitement. 

When we stop to consider the great complex ma- 
chinery of man, composed of soul, mind and body, 
we should not jump rashly at conclusions and say 
science is infidelity or that scripture is a fable, and 
without foundation. 

I believe that a mind unprejudiced by either field 
of study will see, when properly unfolded, harmony 
in Nature's every law, an evidence that will lead us to 
believe that the great book of books is true and re- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 69 

cords the work of a hand that none but God himself 
could have performed. 

Button the other hand if we will study Nature's 
laws we will not only see the working of God's de- 
cree, but will be able to answer many difficult ques- 
tions which, by a lack of knowledge of the law that 
governs that particular sphere, is attributed to divine 
interference and a miraculous restoring of powers. 

You must not infer by what I say that there are 
no miracles, nor that there are no faith cures, nor 
that there is no need of medicine, for each has its 
place and power. 

The reason scientists and theologians do not agree 
in their conclusions in many cases, is that their 
study is confined principally to their own channel of 
thought, and they do not compare and try to har- 
monize the seeming contradictions. Nature cannot 
lie, neither God's word, for by God's being law is. 

Science is rapidly unrolling her great scroll of won- 
ders. What once seemed wonderful is now easily 
accounted for by natural laws and forces. Yet we 
are unable to give all particulars concerning their 
usages. 

We may fail to interpret science or the Bible cor- 
reclty, but if our object is knowledge then the mind 
will be lightened up by the spirit of truth and the 
two will harmonize as never before. There is no 



JO THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

contradiction of God's word and God's law. All that 
is needed is to interpret both correctly. 

We read of miracles and see and hear of faith 
cures. Many believe that the miracles of Christ's 
time can be performed to-day, and cite us to some 
paralytic, who for months, perhaps, had not been 
able to move his limbs, who has apparently been 
miraculously healed after all physicians had failed. 
Because of these miracles many have been led to dis- 
trust the writing of the Bible and of its record of 
superhuman events. 

We understand a miracle to be a supernatural 
event, an act wholly unaccounted for by any natural 
law. 

I will mention some of the most striking char- 
acters recorded in the Bible, viz ; The man born 
blind, whom Christ healed ; raising Lazarus 
from the dead after decomposition should have taken 
place; feeding five thousand on five loaves and two 
fishes; turning water into wine; the man restored 
when thrown into Elisha's tomb; Elisha separating 
the water with his mantle, and the greatest of them 
all, Christ rising from the dead on the third day and 
proving himself sufficient for the redemption of man. 
These cannot be explained away and all who believe 
the Bible and believe that these things were done 
will not attempt to explain them by any natural law. 
There are many other cases mentioned in the Bible, 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 7 1 

some fully as striking as those refered to while others 
gradually merge into a torm and nature that if they 
were not recorded with others of unquestionable char- 
acter might be classed with the cures spoken of at the 
present time, but, coming from the source, and re- 
corded as they are, with others of unquestionable 
power the critic cannot help but accept them as true. 
I believe it is generally accepted by theologians of the 
present day that the time of miracles is past. Not 
because God's ability to perform them is less, but that 
Christ gave us abundance of evidence of the power of 
God and of His efficacy to save the human family 
in the miracles He performed, the Word He preached 
and the work He did through His apostles for the 
establishment of the genuineness of the New Tes- 
tament. 

This was the object of miracles that the world 
might believe in the true God and that Christ was 
His son, that the preached word by his apostles 
was His word through them. When this was done 
God had removed every reasonable doubt from a rea- 
sonable mind and the burden now rests upon man. 
He now works through the medium of natural laws 
spiritual, mental and physical, that, when properly 
understood, speak as strongly of His power as He 
did by His presence. No more does it require the 
dead to be raised, the tempest to be stilled, a voice 
to thunder from the mount of Sinai, or rivers to be 



72 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

turned into blood, that people may believe the truth. 
If they believe not with the knowledge of the 
nineteenth century, neither would they believe though 
one raised from the dead. 

In order to understand the nature of the faith cure 
it will be necessary to have something of an outline 
of the component parts of the mind, their functions 
and relations, Then the power of the mind over the 
body, and lastly the power of mind upon mind. For 
if these things be not miracles, and no physical means 
used for their restoration, then we must look to the 
force of mind upon matter, for, to my knowledge, 
there are no other sources toward which we may 
look. It will suffice to say when I speak of the 
mind I do not mean the soul, for I believe the soul to 
be a part, or thing of itself, and that its workings 
through the medium of matter is what we call mind. 
This may not coincide with the belief of some, but I 
think that the Bible and science will both bear 'me 
out in the statement. But this is out of the prov- 
ince of my subject and will therefore pass to the 
consideration of the component parts of the mind. 
For the convenience of the reader I here give an 
analytic outline of the mind showing its component 
parts and their relations to each other: 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 73 

ANALYSIS OF MIND. 



Max is composed of a trinity, consisting- of a soul, spirit 

and body. 
The Soul and Spirit are governed by spiritual laws and 

. the body by physical laws. 
The Soul of Man is influenced by two great forces, g)od 

and evil. 
The Soul acts through the medium of matter to produce 

mind. 
Mind is composed of Intellect, Emotion, Volition or Will. 

INTELLECT CONSISTS OF 

A \ Which is the power of concentration and 

' I and may be voluntary or involuntary. 
T .{ Which is the conception of the mind by rea- 

I soning. 
^ ( Which is the reception or registration of im- 

' ( pressions, and may be mental or physical. 

f Belief to come, which is prophesy; belief 
Imagination, | of the past, which is memory; belief of 
which is of ^ the present, which is sympathy, hope, be- 
three kinds. | lief, faith, imitation, etc., and their loca- 
tion and function is through the cerebrum 

EMOTIOX CONSISTS OF. 

I ovf ^ Which is faith, hope, humility, courage, admiration, 

I reverence, desire, etc. 
TT._ p nYhidi is anger, revenge, rage, scorn, disdain pas- 
±1A1I '^sion, etc. 

T/w \ Which is cheerfulness, ecstacy, contentment, rapture, 
* JUY \ mirth, etc. 
rpTFF ^ ^ 7hicl1 is sadness, affliction, discontent, melancholia, 

" \ distress, resignation, etc. 

The seat of Emotion is the OpHcthilmius Garpira stirata, 
and Medulla Oblongata. 

WILL CONSISTS OF 

The volition of a spiritual entity. The conscious act of 
setting in motion. To determine. Decide. A declaratory 
act, unspoken, after deliberation. 

The seat of the Will power is in the gray matter of the 
€erebrum. 



74 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

When we speak of mind we speak of no tangible 
thing but of the result of a combination of forces 
acting through the medium of matter. As mind is 
dependent upon matter therefore it may be affected 
by the condition of matter. For illustration take in- 
sanity, idiocy, etc. Matter may be affected by mind. 
For illustration : 

In "Tuke on Mind and Body" we find an account 
of a man who was falsely charged by his enemies 
with unchaste and criminal conduct. The emotions 
of the mind were so intense that the hair loosened 
from the scalp and in the morning when he rose from 
his pillow, dropped from his head like a wig 
And again in Tuke's work is given another case 
showing the effects of the emotions in destroying or 
changing the pigments of the hair. A man of the 
revolutionary war sought refuge in his flight from 
the field of battle in a thick swamp, closely followed 
by his enemies, where he barely escaped capture by 
the cover of night. The next morning revealed his 
hair whitened as with the age of seventy winters. 
Such are some of the powers of the mind over mat- 
ter. 

The mind is composed of three principal forces, or 
functions — Intellect, Emotion and Volition or Will. 

These have their separate duties to perform. In 
a perfect mind they are properly balanced, and pro- 
duce no discord, but act in unison for the welfare and 



OR, LANDMARKS ( F TRUTH. 75 

protection of the body which they represent. But 
when disease fastens upon one of the centers which 
evolve these forces then we will see the manifesta- 
tions of a perverted mind. 

Now we will analyze each function separately: 
Intellect is composed of Attention, Ideation, Expec- 
tation, Imagination and Sensation. 

These different forces or functions collectively com- 
pose the intelligence of man and move in their regu- 
lar channel, acting and being acted upon by each 
other. For example, you hear a sound and it fixes your 
attention ; you receive the sensation, you may then 
imagine •, then expect, then grasp the idea. It is 
not always that you receive impressions in this order. 
You may expect, then imagine then sense the thing 
itself. As Sir John Hunter said: "I can fix my 
mind upon my great toe, at any time, and with my 
expectation I can produce the sensation of pain." 
How many of my readers have not, under the men- 
tal strain and excitement of sympathy, when wait- 
ing upon some sick person, felt the soreness of the 
throat, the pain in the chest, the trouble with the 
heart, from fixed attention, expectation and imagina- 
tion. But shake off this impression and at once it 
vanishes like a shadow. 

The second great function of the mind is Emotion. 
This function has a great latitude and a vast field of 



y6 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

action. It is the barometer of the mind and is not 
at all times seperable from intellect. 

Emotion is truly the waste-gate of the soul of man. 
Through this channel is given vent to all the varied 
changes of the mind, Love, Hate, Joy and Grief, 
which admit of their subdivision and classification, 
but upon these I cannot dwell. 

The emotions may be the departure from health 
and the prime cause of disease, and may even be the 
cause of death. Joy may produce death. 

In "Tuke on Mind and Body" is recorded an inci- 
dent of a door-keeper in Congress who was so over- 
joyed on receiving the news of the surrender of Lord 
Cornwallis that he fell dead. In the same work is 
recorded several instances where persons bitten by 
dogs died from hydrophobia, when it was clearly 
proven that the animals were not afflicted with rabies 
at all. The person bitten simply imagined that the 
dog was rabid and thus produced hydrophobia. 
Many other cases are mentioned by Tuke where 
emotions have produced disease or death when no 
physical ailment existed to cause it. Many such 
cases have come under my own observation, during 
my practice, where disease was the result of imagina- 
tion and not of physical derangement. 

Again the ecstatic state, may be brought on by emo- 
tional excitement as during revival meetings, which 
many of you have seen. I will give you one case 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. JJ 

only. A girl aged 14, while singing, fell down and 
was instantly deprived of speech and sight, eyes 
fixed and motionless but mind active. Muscular 
power entirely absent. Efforts to restore her were 
ineffectual. She remained thus for 18 hours and re- 
covered as suddenly as she was stricken. The restora- 
tion of her own mental powers which had been over- 
powered by emotion had performed the work of cure. 

We don't see the same manifestations in all individ- 
uals, for all are not of the same temperament. 

Some will sing and clap the hands, springing for- 
ward then backward with a dancing movement, keep- 
ing time with the singing, others remain in a state of 
fixation with a smile of complacent satisfaction, and 
only an occasional shout expressive of the emotional 
excitement of the mind, joy it may be, by a belief of 
the removal of a heavy load of condemnation, resting 
upon the mind. 

The manifestation of this ecstatic state is" various. 
In some the muscles are as rigid as in death ; in others 
flexible. Some as if in sleep, while in others ex- 
pressive of pain, according to the portion of brain or 
nerve centers affected. Respiration may be normal 
or sighing ; heart often weak ; in fact I have seen 
some cases that to all outward signs were dead, ex- 
cept a faint respiration. 

It is the same mesmeric state to which the spirit- 
ual medium is brought when they behold their vis- 



yS THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

ions. It is also the condition of the dancing mani- 
acs of the middle ages, a record of which we have 
in history. Don't understand me that, in the differ- 
ent individuals, they all experience the same impres- 
sions. Not so. They differ according to the different 
states of the mind and emotion they may be under 
when stricken. There may be an entire suspension 
of mental impressions. Cases are recorded where 
they have lain for days, or weeks, motionless as a 
cadaver, not able to move, not able to talk or ex- 
press any evidence of life, except, by the involuntary 
action of the heart and members of respiration. 
This, in recent years, they call "the power." It is 
indeed a power — the power of the emotional part of 
the mind ■ over the will paralysing the physical 
action of the body, lessening the disentegration of 
tssue and stopping assimulation. In some cases it 
causes an entire suspension of intellegence, but in 
others an exageration of expectation and imagina- 
tion. 

When the forces of the mind become balanced then 
there is a return of consciousness. The emotional 
part of the mind again comes under the control of the 
intelligence and will, and the machinery of the mind 
moves on as of old. Then, to some, comes a re- 
calling of the delusions when in their state of imagi- 
nation, stimulated by emotion of joy, they saw the 
heavens as it were open, saw the angels and Christ, 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 79 

as I have heard them say, and that they also heard 
the most beautiful singing which seemed to come from 
the courts of heaven. 

This condition has been called by several names ; 
The ecstatic state, trance, mesmeric state, the power, 
etc., and have been seen the world over. In some 
places in England, years ago, it had a wide spread. — 
It became a sort of an epidemic during several meet- 
ings, spreading from mind to mind, acting first by 
attention, then expectation, then imagination, then 
sensation, then emotion, holding in a powerful con- 
dition the ideation and will, by the emotional excite- 
ment caused by the internal sensation brought about 
by the combination of external and internal causes, 
or forces. If you ask me to explain how these causes 
originated I will say I cannot tell. But we know 
they exist. We feel them, we see the manifestation 
of them, we can trace them from effect to cause, but 
to tell you why the cause exists and how it exists 
is only answered by saying it was so ordered in the 
great plan of creation. 

But what is the condition of the mind? Is it a 
physiological condition ? Is the mind in its natural 
state and healthy action? I think you will, with me, 
answer, no. That a diseased action has fastened it- 
self upon the mind, is apparent by the loss of mental 
power and suspension of will, In many cases nothing 
but a shock, equal in power to the cause, is able to re- 



80 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

store them to consciousness. Then many will con- 
tinue until nature has restored the equilibrium of the 
mind. If the influence of the mind, as I have illus- 
trated, will produce disease, may not the influence of 
the mind also cure disease? We shall see, 

When the mind acts with its proper force, in its 
proper channel, and equally balanced, with its requi- 
site amount of intelligence, emotion and volition, then 
we have a healthy mind. Then man stands out in 
the beauty of God's creation in all his power to judge 
correetly and act wisely, but when the mind be- 
comes diseased, we have a varied form of action. 
When the emotions are unduly excited and will 
weakened, in some cases it results in an undue man- 
ifestation of love, joy, hate, grief, etc. And if the 
patient is susceptible to the impressions, it may man- 
ifest itself in the form of hysteria, ecstacy or catalepsy. 

If the imagination is excited, in the way of delusion 
with the suspension or suppression of intelligence, 
then it is manifest in the form of insanity. Here the 
will is powerful in many cases but intelligence — the 
power of reason — is dethroned. 

Here again through the imagination, in the time of 
the prophets, was the channel that God made known 
His will to man. Stimulated by the power of God y 
man conceived of the nature of God. With his ideas, 
with his expectation, he cast out the anchor of hope 
and faith, which rest in the channel of emotion. Then 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 8 1 

with the imagination he reads, in the writing of God's 
spirit upon his intellect, the future of the world, and, 
with his lips, moving in accord with the action of 
his mind, he has made known the message to 
the fallen race. Thus God foretold to man the nat- 
ural course of His natural laws, that when they came 
to pass, we might know that God is the Lord, and 
that He was the originator of the forces of creation, 
We look over our land and see the vast multitude 
of suffering humanity; the maimed, the halt and the 
blind — physical deformities — some from their birth, 
others from various causes. Functional diseases re- 
sulting from the suspension of the natural stimulus 
that Nature gives to the physical frame. Then from 
a suspension of the function comes a change in the 
structure of the organs affected; and, a change of an 
organic nature takes place, secondarily, from the loss 
of function. In this class of cases may be enumerat- 
ed the various palsies and paralysis' of the arms and 
limbs, of speech and of sight; also, the large number 
of cases of deafness that prevail to-day. Here, there 
may be all the conditions existing necessary for the 
performing of their natural function, within the tissue, 
but there is an inability to originate the force neces- 
sary to perform those functions, because of the paral- 
ysis of the will' in that direction. Now, two things 
remain to be done, and they are, the use of such re- 
medies as will increase the activity of the nerve cen- 



82 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

ters and render them more susceptible to the weak 
forces already existing, or, if possible, stimulate the 
weak forces of the mind, and, so cause a change to 
be wrought in the functions of that part of the phy- 
sical structure. 

In the former case we have a long list of remedies 
that fill our book of medication, affectual in many 
cases, but, alas, they too often fail. Why? Be- 
cause of the failure of the forces of the mind; they 
are given over to their own deplorable state of in- 
competency to act, and, that too, without a lever or 
leverage to instigate force, or a fulcrum on which to 
rest a hope. They settle down believing the cloudy 
side of the world is theirs, and no more the sun- 
shine of health is cast for them, but pain, despon- 
dency and sorrow shall follow them all the days of 
their life. 

But now let a stimulant come to the mind, and 
by its action excite hope, cause an expectation and 
set in action the will. The slow, sluggish forces be- 
gin to move; life anew thrills through the disabled 
part, and now, re-inforced by faitJi in the action, 
based on some supposed power, health asserts her 
right and takes control. 

These forces may be stimulated in various ways 
through the different avenues of the mind. By. 
love, joy, expectation, imagination, faith, and fear. 

To illustrate the effect of pleasure, or a kind of joy 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 83 

upon disease, I will relate the circumstance of a 
young lady who was suffering from an inverted foot, 
which was turned at right angles and had been so 
for many months. She had been treated by many 
good surgeons. Although they knew the cause they 
were unable to remedy it. She was present with 
the family at a ball and while there was invited to 
dance, and under the excitement, accepted the invita- 
tion, took her place upon the floor, and while the 
quadrille moved on, the foot, of its own accord, re- 
sumed its natural position. Two days later Doctor 
Skey, her family physician, saw her and she could 
walk perfectly well, and, with great delight, showed 
her ability to use her limb. All deformity had dis- 
appeared. No doctor had aroused the action of the 
will. No spiritual medium had acted upon the mind 
by magnetic force. No prayers had been offered by 
priest or prelate. But, simply through the emotion- 
al channel of the mind, arousing the will, setting in 
abeyance the spasms of the muscles, was the cure 
effected. 

Again, in another attribute of the emotional part 
of the mind called, fear, we have a remedy that is a 
very potent one in the cure of disease. In many of 
the hospitals of our country the hot iron is used up- 
on the body as an agent to excite the will, and, by 
fear, gain a leverage upon the mind that will cure the 
disease. 



84 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

Doctor Crawford, of Baltimore, gives an account 
of a patient who had, for a long time, been under the 
impression that he was to die from disease of the liv- 
er. The impression worked upon his mind, and he 
traveled for his health. On his return he received 
the news of the death of his twin brother, who had 
died from an actual disease of the liver. He stagger- 
ed and fell, saying, that he was a dead man. His 
physician being sent for, came immediately, and, as 
he approached the body, he said, " Yes, gentlemen, 
he is indeed dead, and no doubt his liver was the 
cause of his death; however, to ascertain the facts, I 
will open him, at once." Suiting the- action to the 
word, he caught up a large carving knife lying on the 
table, and commenced to whet it on the steel. The 
man jumped to his, feet and rushed from the room, cry- 
ing, Murder! Murder! He was entirely cured and 
he had no further trouble with his liver. Fear did 
its work. Disease had fled from his mind, no more 
expectation was in his liver. 

Once again, we see the effects of fear upon the 
special senses of the mind, in the following. At the 
storming of Sardish, a Persian soldier meeting Croe- 
sus, the king, was about to plunge the sword into 
his defenseless breast, when his son, a mute long de- 
prived of speech, cried aloud, " Oh man ! Don't kill 
Croesus." The son, ever after that, retained his pow- 
er of speech. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 85 

I could go on and relate case after case to show 
the influence that these attributes of the mind exert 
over the physical derangement of the body, but time 
and space forbids. 

Expectation is an anticipation; a looking for, with 
a belief of receiving. Something like faith, in its ac- 
tion, and often ends in faith. It is, often, a potent 
influence in the curing of disease. As an illustration 
I will give the following incident: 

In an experiment with Nitrous Oxide gas, several 
physicians assembled to try its effect in cases of pal- 
sy. A young man was selected upon whom to make 
the experiment. The patient was entirely ignorant 
of its nature, action and method of use," only that it 
was expected to cure him of the palsy. Doctor Da- 
ve}' advanced to the patient's bedside, and, prepara- 
tory to the administration ol the gas, proceeded to 
take the temperature of the body, by putting a ther- 
mometer under the patient's tongue. The patient no 
sooner felt the thermometer, than he exclaimed, with 
enthusiasm, that he could already feel its influence 
upon his whole body. The opportunity was too 
tempting to be lost. The physicians done nothing 
further, than to repeat the application of the ther- 
mometer to the. tongue, and, in two weeks, the man 
was well. 

Here expectation brought about an entirely differ- 



86 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

ent result than was intended, or, than was possible 
for it to perform, of itself. 

Another case, equally as striking, took place not 
long ago. A lady, who suffered from an attack of the 
Pleurodynia, (in other words, neuralgia of the pleura,) 
called her physician. He wrote her a prescription, 
and laying it upon the table, said, " Put this to your 
side and you will be well." The patient put the pa- 
per to her side and was cured. 

You have also heard of the cures wrought by ex- 
pectant faith in the bread pill. Thus we are able to 
explain many of the curious phenomena that frequent- 
ly comes to our knowledge. 

After considering the influence of the various forces 
of the mind, or their manifestations, we come at last 
to FAITH — that which reaches out into the future 
and grasps the substance of the thing hoped for, and 
is the evidence of the thing not seen. It is closely 
allied to Expectation and Hope. It is the principle 
which gives us a desire to live. A stimulus that leads 
us on in the race for life, and cheers us by its .influ- 
ence to bear afflictions and endure privations that 
would otherwise be unbearable. It causes us, by its 
expectant power, to penetrate the deep recesses ot 
the scientific world, with the belief that we shall un- 
derstand its mystery. 

Faith resurrects the hope, that was lost in the 
mind of the one who, for months or years, has been 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 87 

deaf or blind, caused by some functional, or structu- 
ral disease; and who has given away to the emotion 
of grief and dispair, until they have become fixed 
forces, paralyzing the will and enslaving the body. 

An act is performed which excites hope, then, 
strenthened by faith, the forces of the mind and body 
are put in action. The will acts, and what was once 
impossible, is then performed, not by a supernatural 
power, but by a natural power, created by the origi- 
nator ot all laws. To illustrate this, I will give the 
case of the ex-king of Bavaria, as given by himself, 
in a letter to the Count Von Sinsheim, in 1822. He 
says: 

" There are miracles still. The last ten days of the 
past month the people of Wurzburgh might believe 
themselves in the time of the Apostles. The deaf 
heard, the blind saw and the lame freely walked, not 
by the aid of art, but by a few short prayers, and by 
the invocation of the name of Jesus. 

On the evening of the 28th the number of persons 
cured, of both sex, and of every age, amounted to 
more than twenty. These were of all classes of peo- 
ple, from the humblest to a prince of the blood, who, 
without any exterior means, recovered, on the 27th, 
at noon, the hearing which he had lost from his in- 
fancy. This cure was affected by a prayer of some 
minutes, by a priest who is scarcely more than twen- 



88 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

ty. Although my hearing is not as good as some 
around me, yet it is very sensitive. 

You are at liberty to communicate my letter to any 
one who wishes to take a copy of it." 

Again, we hear of the same cures being performed 
by another priest, Father Matthew, who, by his pray- 
ers and invocation, cured hundreds, until his name be- 
came wide spread. But at last he died, and the 
world lost a benefactor. 

The people's faith was strong. Although they 
could no longer meet Father Matthew, face to face, 
yet they firmly believed that, if they could visit his 
tomb, a miracle would be wrought upon them. The 
multitudes flocked to his last resting place, with this 
faith in the healing efficacy of his tomb. The result 
was, that the cripples left their crutches and walked, 
the blind found their sight, the deaf heard, the dumb 
spake and the palsied leaped for joy, at the tomb ot 
Father Matthew. 

There were no prayers offered; no medicines given; 
no spiritualistic trance entered into; no mesmeric 
power; no laying on of hands; but simply a faith, a 
belief, an expectation, an imagination. Faith, not in 
God, but in a belief that a power existed in the pres- 
ence of the dead Father, and, through their belief in 
his intercessions for them, they grasped the forces 
that moved the will and set in motion the vital pow- 
ers that established a cure. The fame of the cures 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 89 

spread abroad, while a knowledge of the wonderful 
cures increased the hope and expectation, until those 
who had been bed-ridden for years, were carried to 
to his tomb. Others crawled to the place, and un- 
der the stirring of their deepest emotion, their expec- 
tation resulted in a strong faith, that opened up the 
channel that had long lain dormant, and the parts 
from which had departed their natural functions, 
again received the life giving power, and functional 
activity commenced. Molecular .motion stimulated 
by the emotional system and will, originates the force 
and once more they move the muscles to action, the 
eye to impression, and the ear to sensation: 

Need I relate more to prove to you the influence 
of the mind upon the body. J. think when we take 
a thoughtful glance over our world we cannot help 
but realize that the mind is the great power of earth. 
It has chained the forces of matter and made them 
conform to will. It has uncovered the hidden secrets 
of Nature and spread them before the world. It has 
lifted itself from the darkness of the world to a glance 
into the joys of heaven. Mind through the stimulus 
of God's power is fast christianizing the world. 

Mind is the motive power to all that progresses 
and modifies and changes the character of our asso- 
ciates and banishes evil from our midst. 

We may be utterly unable to originate a force 
within ourselves to overcome a power, physical or men- 



90 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

tal, for the same reason a stream cannot rise above the 
fountain. It has not the power to elevate itself, the 
forces have fallen below their standard. They have 
no fulcrum on which to rest their hopes and elevate 
their faith sufficiently to act. But now, a mind con- 
fident and strong, lays, as it were, its hand underneath 
the faint and feeble will, and with its word of cheer, 
its word of promise, it offers inducement to hope, then 
faith, and, by the power of faith they are induced to 
act, through which they receive the benefit. 

How natural, when we have a physical burden to 
bear and a friend lends a helpiug hand' to lift the 
weight, the load becomes easy and the burden light. 
So when the mind is burdened and about to break 
beneath its load, when it can no longer stimulate its 
dependant charge, and, from a failure to originate force, 
the physical structure of which it has control crum- 
bles to the dust. How natural for the friend who is 
strong in his emotional nature, with his look of pity, 
and power of will, to lift the load from off the bur- 
dened mind and lend to it the force and power neces- 
sary for the cure of the disease. If it was as easily 
done as told then indeed it would be a boon to the 
suffering race. But with our present knowledge we 
lack the power to make a practical application in many 
cases, but the study of mental philosophy is advanc- 
ing step by step and we hope some day to hold with- 
in our grasp a remedy more potent than drugs. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 9 1 

We need not fear that miracles will be shorn of 
their power. Faith cures of the present day never 
cured a physical deformity, separated the waters of 
the Jordan, raised the dead, threw open the doors of 
prisons, or caused the sun, moon and stars to stand 
still, but simply set in motion the suspended functions 
by its operation on the spinal and sympathetic nerves 
through the medium of the mental power. 

There is a power that can pass from mind to mind. 
A force which when set in motion acts upon the neg- 
ative mind, bringing it under its immediate control. — 
It furnishes a stimulus to the weakened power of the 
mind and supplies the deficiency of the will power, 
that causes man to act. 

But again, the force of the positive mind may be 
so used as to paralyze the will and change the course 
of the negative^ mind. We see the fact demon- 
strated in the mesmeric power. 

In the language of another- 1 will give some of the 
effects of mesmeric force, or animal magnetism, upon 
the will of the negative mind, In stating the inci- 
dent the writer says ; "In fixing my mind and eyes 
upon the operator fully determined to resist the force 
that was to overcome me and by concentration ot 
thought upon other objects, could, for a time, shake 
off the thrill of the force drawing me toward him, but 
soon there was a thrilling sensation through my every 
limb, and heaviness came over my eyes and, unable 



92 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

to resist longer the power, they closed. He spoke to 
me, I heard what he said, but could not speak. It 
was a pleasing sensation rather than a pain, but 
when I wished to change my position I had not the 
power to do so. I was fully under his control. His 
will seemed to be followed by the movements of my 
body, for my head followed the motions of his hand. 
I desired to wake, and felt a dread of having to re- 
main longer under his influence. To his inquiry of, if 
I was well, I smiled but did not speak and could not 
now see. I heard the clock strike but did not know 
the time, then by some rapid movements he woke me 
and while I could'feel the restorative influence passing 
through my frame I yet could not resist his pleasure 
in causing my head to move from side to side or for- 
ward and back. When I fully came to my natural 
condition I found I had been one ho>ur in the mes- 
meric state." 

Here we see the effect of mind over mind, paral- 
yzing the mind of one and causing the physical sys- 
tem of the individual to vibrate to the wishes of the 
positive mind. It has been tried in the science of 
medicine for the relief of opacity of the cornea, and 
cures have been effected, when other means have failed. 
One case of opacity in an old lady was cured while 
mesmerizing her for another disease. There are many 
other cases I could give of the same class, which 



93 

would prove the effect that mind has over the organic 

structures. 

This force acts by and through the mind and 
nervous system to the nerve filaments supplying the 
diseased part, conducted there perhaps by the com- 
bined action of the mind of the operator and the one 
operated upon, stimulating the diseased tissues to 
absorption and therefore restoring the part to its nor- 
mal condition. 

Now, if an arm was removed from the body, no 
cure could be effected, no restoration could be secured. 
Why ? Simply because there is no structure left. — 
It is not a diseased tissue but a tissue removed from 
the body, and is it not under the control of the laws 
and forces governing the body. 

Now in the time of Christ this could have been 
done. For he even raised the dead, and that too 
after decomposition had taken place. Because of 
this direct interference with natural law and His 
establishing of a power for the occasion, showed that 
the laws of this earth were subservient to Him, and 
proves the fact that He was the originator of those 
laws. 

Now man comes forward, little insignificant man, 
that cannot make a little green leaf, and says, I have 
the power of heaven given unto me, I can heal the 
sick, cure the blind, cause the lame to walk, I can do 
miracles in the name of my Master. But, lo ; They 



94 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

have only ignorantly touched the key to the great 
power of mind over matter, a law that God estab- 
lished and intended that man, in the future, should 
unfold, and as it is brought by science before the 
world, greater mysteries than these will be seen, be 
cause of more knowledge. 

There are those to-day who, by the force of mind 
over mind, and mind over matter, are curing disease, 
and, in their ignorance and lack of knowledge of their 
forces, attribute it to a divine interference with 
natural law, while others, like parasites upon the 
wealth of the public, claiming much and doing little, 
sell the power for money and teach and train classes 
in this work of healing, purporting that the gift is 
from God. Christ said this gift of miracles could 
not be bought and the penalty for offering money 
was God's curse. 

Surgeons have to-day proven the power of mes- 
meric sleep to entirely suspend the sensation, and 
through this power of attention and fixation of mind 
by a mysterious force, set in abeyance all sensations 
of pain. 

The operator's knife may pierce the tissues, lay open 
the deep structures of the body, and limbs, and the 
saw grate upon the bone without a single contraction 
of a muscle showing sensation of pain. Is this a 
miracle? No. It is a marvel but not a miracle. 
Let the operator turn his great power and attention 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 95 

again upon the severed limb, and think you he can 
restore it ? No. That is beyond the power of men- 
tal force, and the limb severed from the great throne 
of man — the brain — is dead. But if Christ were here, 
and He saw the hope of the world and the preserva- 
tion of His word depending" upon it, He would speak 
the word and the limb would be restored. 

To show you the power of mesmeric force, or im- 
agination, upon disease I will relate the following: 
Edward Wine, aged 75 years, had been paralyzed for 
over two years, in one arm and one leg. Arm drawn 
across and spasmodically fixed to his chest, limb use- 
less and dragging after him in his walk, the side of 
his face drawn down and saliva flowed from his 
mouth. Doctor Tuke brought him into the mesmer- 
ic state. Soon the withered limb began to move; by 
the word of the operator the muscles relaxed and the 
arm straightened; the leg received strength, and the 
man was restored to health. 

The power of mind had done its work, by the re- 
inforcement of the patient's will. First, by attention, 
then imagination and then imitation. Here, as it 
were, the mind of one man takes possession of the 
bod}- of another, and, by force, removes the paralysis 
from the body of the other. 

What a wonderful power is the mind of man? It 
reads the very soul of its fellow. It pens its thoughts 
and they are put in type, struck off with the rapidity 



96 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

of lightning, and in twenty-four, hours has planted 
its impressions upon the souls of thousands ; there 
to form character, that will live throughout eternity. 

Do we rob God? No. We magnify His name 
when we speak of those great laws that He has cre- 
ated, and placed in the mind of man to do His bid- 
ding. It is the great plan of the universe. It is 
that which we cannot see, but can realize the enjoy- 
ment of its presence; that which we cannot handle,, 
but can know. 

In denning a miracle we have first to define Nature 
and natural law. By natural law we mean a force 
existing which is working throughout our natural 
world, and bringing about certain results by its 
action, whether fully understood, or not, and ineveta- 
bly resulting in the same thing. We take advantage 
of these laws in bringing valuable substances to us 
from the heighths, in the forces of electricity in con- 
veying thought and transmitting sound and in many 
other things. So the great Creator often makes use 
of these same laws and forces to accomplish some 
purpose originating in the divine mind of special pro- 
vision. He uses man as an instrument in His hands 
for the spreading of His word, by teaching rather 
than conveying the impression by instinct direct. — 
He does many wonders through the direction of 
these forces and laws that at the same time can be 
accounted for as natural results. Many of the 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 97 

wonders in the time of Christ were thus performed. 
But many more were performed out of the radius of 
this power. 

We have to-day the paralyzed cured by the action 
of the mind, as in the so-called "faith cures," of those 
who advertise in our cities. Very many are being 
cured by the action of faith or mind. The lame walk, 
the blind see, and the feeble systems are made strong. 
These are performed by those who do not regard 
God in their ways, nor attribute the power to Him 
who created all laws. But on the contrary, they use 
this art as a means of obtaining money, and they 
offer to convey the power, by teaching, to others, for 
a small number of dollars, If this were other than 
the use of laws given to us for our benefit, and was 
the special power of God manifest, they would re- 
ceive for such an act the same condemnation and pen- 
alty that those of old did, who would fain have 
bought the power, with money, to do those things 
which were done by the Apostles. 

These mysterious cures can be explained by the 
action of mind upon matter, and of mind upon mind. 
They are not special acts, or powers, for. that event, 
but they are the following out of the natural courses: 
and results attached to the course of, and governed 
by, the immutable laws of the mind. These are gen- 
eral laws, never changing their natural product, but 
as we become better acquainted with them, we will be 
7 



98 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

able to use their powers to a greater extent, for the 
accomplishment of either good or evil, to the human 
race. 

Man cannot create new powers, or energies, but 
only use those already in existence. Although we 
may not be able to fully understand a natural law we 
are able to say, that all forces, under the same influ- 
ence, always brings about the same results. There- 
fore, the great unchangable God, the same, to-day 
and forever, has so established these laws by Divine 
mind, that, unless they are stopped in their action, 
set aside, or suspended, by Himself, they inevitably 
produce the same results. The power that made 
the law can set it aside, or overcome it by another 
law more powerful, to accomplish a just act for a 
holy purpose. Natural law applies to material and 
earthly substance, and to the functions of the forces 
that operate through and by them. 

Any law, which is changing of itself, and uncertain 
in its action, performing one thing at one time, and a 
different thing at another time, would be an imperfect 
law. It would be a mere chance, or in fact, no law 
at all. A law, in its perfect sense, is a fixed prin- 
ciple, from which there is no variation, and whatever 
modification we may observe, comes through the in- 
corporate principles of that law, and not from any 
tendency the law can have to change its mode of ac- 
tion. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 99 

Now, the object of a miracle is to convince a dis- 
believing world of the divinity of Christ. Therefore 
He must, on such an occasion, perform that which 
could not be performed by man, under similar circum- 
stances, or by the natural results of laws and forces. 
For, as I stated before, natural law can only result 
in natural accomplishments. Now, the very object 
for which the miracle is to be performed shows that 
it must be outside of what naturaly results from the 
same cause, or else there would be no proof of divini- 
ty. Therefore the effect of the act would be lost. 
Now some have said that natural law may result in 
in one product generally, but on rare occasions, it 
may result in another product; and when such is the 
case its called a miracle, and that miracle is the work- 
ing out of natural law. 

This could not could not be true, any more than 
our saying the word, could change the principles of 
mathematics. Twice two makes four, every time. 
I do not care what words or signs are used to ex- 
press it. It can never be otherwise. There could be 
no change made that would effect the result. But 
in the intricate workings of law some results 
but once to the same thing, such as the birth and 
death of man. But this is not a miracle, in the sense 
intended, but is the wondrous workings of the law 
of life and mortality, and always brings about the 



100 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

same change unless suspended by a special Divine 
interposition. 

But a miracle, as performed by Christ, in raising 
the widow's dead son and restoring him to his friends 
also the raising of Lazarus after decomposition had 
taken place, was not the working out of a natural 
law. Death is the out-growth of a natural law, and 
comes to all in some form. But the resurrection ot 
the dead body, by restoring the life once extinct, and 
making it live again, is the providential act of God 
for a special purpose, by withholding, in that case and 
for that time only, the result of the natural law of 
death. No one ever performed this great wonder or 
displayed this marvelous power, only by and through 
the acknowledged power of God. Never was it done 
where a remuneration was asked or received. 

We no not see any such manifestation of power at 
the present day. There is no need of such a miracle. 
We have the promise of a resurrection when the last 
day shall have come and time shall be no more, but 
not now. There is to be a fulfilling of events before 
that resurrection takes place. So the resurrection of 
Lazarus, and the widow's son, were unnatural as to 
time. Then we have the promise of the resurrection 
of the body, but not of the natural body, for the ma- 
terial that composed the bodies of the millions dead, 
is, to-day, scattered throughout the earth. Paul says, 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 1 01 

it will be planted a natural body and raised a spirit- 
ual body. 

Now, as these things were done only at certain 
times, and for certain purposes, it clearly indicates 
the calling into action of a power for the time-being, 
and a special act of the Divine mind, which carried 
with it the convincing evidence of the power of God. 
The measure of meal and cruse of oil cannot be ac- 
counted for by any natural law, and for that reason 
was a convincing evidence of the character of the 
man who was present, that he was a servant of the 
Most High. Elisha did not claim it as a result of 
his own power, or of the action of natural law. 
Neither would he have sold, for money, the power he 
possessed, nor taught, for pay, the principles by 
which it was performed, as it could only have been 
done by the gift of the Most High God. Would 
not God have stricken from his arm the power to 
perform the miracles if he had so corrupted his mis- 
sion as to make the gift a merchandise? 

A miracle, then, is a special act of the Divine 
mind, to perform a work which cannot be accom- 
plished by man, or accounted for by any natural law, 
and which, by its performance controls the universal 
law governing that order of things. So it was in 
the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes. There 
is no natural law by which this could be performed. 
The fishes were not alive that they could increase in 



102 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

number, and the loaves were not in wheat or flour 

that they might be increased, but were baked and 
were intended for the use of one man only. The 
loaves were small as was the custom in those days. 
This miracle was clearly a setting aside of all law of 
forces natural to the increase of this provision ^nol 
establishing of one for the necessary purpose of 
showing His power and proving His divinity, 

Christ had full knowledge of the laws of Nature. 
He was associated with the Divine mind which cre- 
ated them, and therefore was enabled to use them to 
their uttermost capacity to accomplish a work de- 
signed to convince a darkened and disbelieving world 
of his Divinity, 

He may have used the forces of mental laws to 
perform some of His cures, thus showing His super- 
human knowledge, but in other cases He used super- 
natural and superhuman power as a power Divine. 
A power which stood above all law then existing. 
Using a force, a power peculiar to the Divine being 
and to Him alone, far beyond the reach of man. Not 
only of knowledge, but beyond man's power to use 
if his knowledge had extended so far as to compre- 
hend its workings. 

Astronomers understand the revolutions of 
the planets, but are helpless as to their control, 
so it is with man. He may comprehend the 
power in Christ of raising the dead, opening 



OR, l wpmakks OF TRUTH. i 03 

the eyes oi' the blind, causing the deaf to hear 
and feeding the multitude with five loaves and 

two fishes, but he is utterly unable to use it. 
Cures may be performed by supernatural power, 
and that supernatural power or law is the force 
of the mind oi man. As an illustration: The 
making oi an engine. is not the work of natural 
law. The natural laws oi' physics, gravitation 
and chemical combination, enter into the structure, 
but the supernatural power i>i' the mind of man is 
manifest in so using and adjusting those forces as to 
make a complete working and utilizing oi' natural 
forces. The supernatural power is in making one 
power overcome another by application and adaption, 
by exercising the entity oi' the mind. Man, in this 
sense is a creator. By superhuman power, 1 mean a 
a power beyond human, or over-reaching the power 
of man; a power man could not exert were he able 
to understand the object designed to be accomplished. 
Man cannot create a living thing. He can only use 
the forces that are established. When he makes ap- 
plication oi one force to another, then it is a super- 
natural power, because the idea oi' its application 
originated in the mind of man. A superhuman power 
is the work oi' a higher order oi being and the exer- 
cise oi' Divine mind. 

Again, if these miracles were the working out of a 
natural law, then, there was no convincing evidence 



104 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

in them of the divinity of Him in whose name they 
were performed, and we would lose all the force and 
power of the scripture. But as God is the power 
behind the natural law then we can easily under- 
stand how He can use any special power to work 
out His great plan of justice and mercy, that 
would be convincing evidence of the divinity of 
Christ, for such an act could only be accounted for 
in that way. One thing should not be lost sight of 
in relation to this subject, and that is, that Christ 
was able to bring into use all the forces of Nature 
to perform His wonderful works, and generally al- 
lowed natural law to proceed unhindered. Only 
where it was necessary to prove His power and di- 
vinity, to establish His truth on earth, did He turn 
aside from laws existing in Nature and show His su- 
perhuman power, 

It has been said by some that the devil can also 
perform miracles ; and did in olden times. In answer 
to this statement I would say that mysterious things 
were performed by the magicians in olden times, and 
are being performed in these days by the same 
power, but to say they are miracles would be, ac- 
cording to the devil, the same power which God used 
to prove His own divinity. 

Evil men, possessed with the spirit of the devil, 
are not debarred from the use of natural law, but 
have the power to bring into use all the principles of 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 105 

natural forces governing mind and body, to bring 
about the results which they desire. But, because 
we cannot always understand the intricate workings 
of the laws, or combination of laws, by which it is 
done, we should not say it is the special power of 
God in the hands of the devil. It might, however, 
be said that it was the working out of the natural 
laws created in the beginning of time by God Him- 
self and made use of by the devil for evil purposes, 
the same as we may use the law of gravitation to 
commit murder or suicide. We suspend a heavy 
weight over our heads and when cut loose gravi- 
tation brings it with crushing force upon the un- 
covered head and sends a soul into eternity. Thus 
a law, created by God, can be used for an evil pur- 
pose. What things the magicians performed in 
those days and now, might be called miraculous or 
miracles, from the lack of knowledge to properly un- 
derstand them. But the chief difference in their 
works and those of the Apostles is, that they have 
no influence or power to change, or set aside, or sub- 
stitute a law to accomplish their end. The Apos- 
tles, by appeals to the Most High, moved the hand 
that moves the world. For the glorifying of the 
Almighty, and Him above, are the wheels of Nature 
stopped and reversed in their action and made to 
perform what could never have been done by natural 



106 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

results. This is a miracle, or, as Webster calls it : 
"an act of supernatural power." 

That mind does have a powerful influence over 
matter, and that too. to change its functions, cannot 
be doubted and no further argument is needed. — 
Any observing person is able to discern its influence 
in his common associations in life. 

The influence of mind upon mind is no less ap- 
parent, for we are all more or less affected by our 
associates, and many times conform to ideas which 
at first seemed unreasonable. If our soul is a separ- 
ate entity, and the great principle by which we ex- 
pect a future existence, it is the part and principle 
of this great being, man, which is held accountable 
for the faithful performance of the office of guardian 
and supervisor of the rights and duties of beings. 

If luminous ether fills the immensity of space 
between discernable bodies, and is a medium through- 
out the planetary system through which traverses 
the influences of light and sound, uniting distances of 
varied length, may there not be a medium, of a spir- 
itual nature, filling the immensity of space between 
soul and soul, wherein the sympathetic influences 
may travel and the harmonious chord be struck to 
vibrate those minds in unison? May there not be a 
channel, through this medium, by which a mind, or 
soul, may be affected by the strong emotion arising 
in the heart of a distant friend, by the fixation of 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. IO7 

the forces of the mind, and thrown as it were, like 
sound to impress with its motion the entity of that 
friend and cause an action in sympathy to its 
power? When the parties are within sight, or 
sound, this is evident. But to what extent it can 
be used while at a distance, unobserved, or unheard, 
is not easily demonstrated. There is a large field of 
inquiry opening up before us, in the present day, and 
unvailing to us mysteries from the field of forces un- 
seen. But as we are all dependent creatures in our 
physical being, and would become extinct if left 
alone, so we are dependent creatures in our spiritual 
existence, and associate (although imperfectly by 
reason of our mortal nature) through the medium of 
the forces of the mind, with spiritual existences. 

We feel a strange sensation come over our mind, 
there is a restless sense of danger, or a foreboding 
of some sad event, which becomes so indelibly fixed 
that we cannot shake it off. At last the news ar- 
rives that some dear friend has passed away, and, as 
some attest, at the time of this very impression. — 
What was it ? Was it mere imagination ? If so 
what caused the imagination to work simultaneous 
with the fact and at a distance of many miles ? Was 
it the electric power of the soul, conveyed through 
space, through this etherial spirit medium, like sound 
upon the air, yet neither heard nor seen, but felt by 
sense far more acute, and convincing the inmost re- 



108 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

cesses of the soul of those wondrous facts ? It mat- 
ters not by what sense it comes, all we want is to 
know the fact, either by sight or sound, as by the un- 
known sense of soul. I say unknown yet known ; 
for some things we realize and yet know not their 
mode of action. 

I open this field of thought that those who choose 
may delve its ground o'er and o'er and gather to suit 
their taste the gems of thought they may find there- 
in contained. 

Oh, that we could dig deep into the hidden things 
of the mind and bring to light the mysteries of the 
age and follow the chords of electric power as they 
travel from heart to heart. But, alas ! not now. — 
It remains for the future. Then I believe we will 
have a created power to discern spiritual bodies and 
vie in the spiritual world with that which is now in- 
visible, and know fully of the powers with which we 
are possessed. .. 

Then the veil of flesh that intercepts our vision 
and prevents us from knowing more fully the nature 
of immaterial things and of beholding spiritual forms 
and hearing spiritual sounds will be removed. 

In fact our capacity for knowing will be enlarged. 
Our nature will be changed to that glorified state, 
which will allow of our realizing the full capacity of 
the forces of the natural and spiritual world. 



«m\E FORCES OF MIND> 



CHAPTER IV. 



. Oh man, the acme of all creation, 
To whom earth bows and gives subjection; 
What forces are these that pervert the frame, 
And give to you an immortal name ? 

What mysterious powers are those that move 
Throughout the breast, and, linked above 
Fix soul to soul and heart to heart 
And separates at death from earthly part ? 

What force is that which lingers in the breast 
• And longs for an immortal, peaceful rest ? 
And looks by faith for that immortal power 
To change our forms in that decisive hour ? 

Why do we stand, and, with spirit eyes, 
Gaze into the future beyond the skies, 
If we believe there is no future rest, 
But earth is all, the first, the last, the best ? 

JJfgT is thought by some that force is a substance 
g$p by others that it is a mode of motion, and is 
qAg) latent force when held in a powerless state. If 
k force be a mode of motion then surely there 
is something back of force to set it in motion, 
hence we would be as far from the conception of the 
primeval power as before. 



110 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

Whether this power be substance or undulation, I 
believe it receives its principles from the center of the 
universe, the foundation of all creation, composed of 
soul, spirit and substance, that we call God. 

Man partakes of these different elements and 
forces. Matter is brought together to form a tan- 
gible thing, called body, and vitality is entered into 
it to make it a living thing. He is given spirituality, 
or mind, making him a spiritual being. Then, he has 
over all this, a soul, an immortal substance, identical 
of its self, coming by the creative power of God and 
inheriting some of the attributes of God, given by 
His creative funetion. By his complex, created 
faculty man is made master over his immediate acts 
and given a free moral agency in choosing one of 
two existing elements, substances or forces, which 
existed parallel in time, yet opposite in power and 
principle, from the beginning. 

If you are not able to conceive of substance that 
you cannot handle, see, feel, etc., study the law of 
physics, and you will soon perceive that only a part 
of the great universe comes before your five senses, 
and a very small part at that. 

Intellect might be called a sense, for, through this 
faculty alone are we able to judge of all incorporeal 
bodies and grasp the idea of forces. Intelligence has 
at its disposal the different emotions of the mind 
that it may perceive, grasp and enjoy, and thus they 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I I I 

are members like unto those of the body, to bring 
objects within their reach. 

We look around us on every hand and behold 
creation. 

Life and power is manifest in every living thing 
and law in every existing substance. 

It is obvious to all thinking persons that all things 
are governed by system. A system of laws exist 
throughout the universe that speak of the creation 
as a perfect union of forces, perfect in power, perfect 
in goodness, and ever performing the mission for 
which they were intended. Not always observ- 
able to the eye, but discernable by the well trained 
mind, that is not swathed in its own conceit, but 
that will allow its finer feeling to reach out and 
grasp the unsearchable riches and hidden things of 
the Maker of all laws. 

All beings and existing bodies have their relation 
and orbit upon which they turn, with a sun, as it 
were, the center of their motion, obeying the laws of 
attraction and repulsion in degree and intensity ac- 
cording to their creation and fitness. 

We have the mental force, the dynamic force, the 
physical force, a chemical force and a spiritual force, 
each having its relation to all yet each separate in 
power and existing in its own sphere. We know 
that things exist, but how they exist, and why, can 
only be answered by saying, that it pleased the Al- 



112 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

mighty to so arrange it that all Nature should show- 
forth His life and power. Here is a great chasm, a 
distance from finite to infinite, that man, with his tel- 
escopic mind, cannot reach. Men have labored and 
phylosophized, they have believed and have doubted, 
and still the unchanging forces move unturned from 
the course of an Almighty hand. 

We behold only the effect of these laws. But to 
know of their heighth and depth, to know of their 
magnitude and power, is beyond the reach of present 
knowledge. 

Man cannot rise above the plane of his creation, 
nor comprehend that which is beyond the powers of 
his mind. And, though we may earnestly desire to 
unravel the mysteries of the creation of force, many 
things will ever remain a mystery, until the veil of 
flesh is removed and we are permitted, with a clearer 
vision, to scan the expanse of the now unknown. 

Then we will be surprised to realize how little we 
know even of the simple things of earth. We are 
now under a system of laws and forces which give us 
but a faint glimmer of the truth beyond, but when 
we are disrobed of the limited powers of this earthly 
knowledge then will open up to our spiritual vision a 
vast field far beyond our present conception. Now 
we are permitted the joys of the inspiration of natur- 
al and spiritual laws which dispel the darkness in a 
great measure and enable us to glance forward into 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 113 

the heavenly things and demonstrate the powers of 
earthly things. 

You call these, forces of Nature. I call them a 
part of the attributes of God, and yet Nature. I 
feel with my hands. Yet, it is not my hands that 
perceive; it is I. The nerves conducts the sensa- 
tion to my brain, and that messenger tells me that my 
hand touches an object. That messenger is life. I 
am the soul. 

So, in every disturbing element in the world of life, 
there is a transmission of force through the spiritual 
space; and quicker than thought comes the message, 
carried on the wires of Nature's laws. The exact re- 
sult is conducted, like the flash of an electric light, to 
the Great Head of the Universe, and registered in 
heaven. It is not Nature that feels. It is God, who 
fills all Nature with the vitality of His own being. 
Laws and forces are His attributes and the God-head 
is His soul. Can we comprehend this? Ah no, it is 
only like the stray ray of light glimmering through 
the crevice of our darkened home. It gives us our 
inspiration of the truth of God, and our dreams of 
the brightness of the great beyond. 

According to laws all Nature abhors a vacuum, so 
no sooner does one element move from its place than 
another rushes to fill it. 

So all space is filled, and as these forces exist 
above us, beneath us, in and around us, we have to do 



114 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

every day of our lives with them. Silently they are 
at work, moulding and shaping all substance into 
form, and unseen, forging chains to connect by bands 
of union, bodies of density, always obedient to the 
purpose evidently contemplated when made. 

As a law cannot exist without a law giver, neither 
can a law of these forces exist without a maker. If 
we should deny they exist just simply because 
we cannot discern them by our five senses, we would 
have to deny the strongest powers and forces of 
Nature. The air, when still, we are unable to perceive 
by any of our natural senses but we would not be 
so simple as to deny its existence. 

Water, that sparkling beverage, the gift of Nature, 
that, for which man would exchange his gold, yea his 
very inheritance, when thirsting on the desert plain; 
that which makes all Nature glad by its presence, 
and fills the veins of Nature's world as it goes cours- 
ing through the earth. Water, only water, yet such 
a mystery. It enters most largely into the composi- 
tion of our bodies, and, is held a medium for uniting 
the elements contained in the great labratory of Na- 
ture. 

Water is composed of two gases, each invi sable, 
and cannot be discerned by the sense of sight or feel- 
ing. Yet when held together by these attractive 
forces, make a discernable thing, a substance that 
covers more than three-fourths of our globe. A 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I I 5 

substance which can be converted into a power that 
can make the bosom of the earth tremble by its force. 
A substance, that, by its continual movement wears 
away the hardest rock and contains cleansing prop- 
erties that no other substance can equal. 

Take these sparkling gems of dew drops from 
Nature's eyes and throw into them an electric force, 
catch the gases again as they separate, then con- 
duct them together by a long tube and ignite with 
flame and you have a fire that will consume the 
hardest metal known. Yet this is only a mere 
atom in the great field now open to research, con- 
sisting of the unknown wonders of the material 
world of which we are now conscious and come in 
contact. A single drop in the ocean of Nature's laws 
that exist around us, created by the one great power, 
ruled by one great hand, overseen by the one great 
eye. Not that it requires this constant watch and 
undivided care, for it is a part of Him, these forces 
originate in Him, spreading as it were like the nerve- 
fibers of our body, to the smallest recesses of the 
tissue, transmitting power and reflecting results to 
the great center of forces. 

Organic matter and created things may return to 
the chaotic darkness from which they came, but the 
great spirit which prevades matter will ever remain 
to return to its fountain head and again be sent by 
the power of God throughout the universe. 



THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

In our human system we see a combination of 
forces, because of our combined nature corresponding 
to the different elements that enter into our being, 
chemical, vital, physical, and mental. As we are 
composed of material, so must we be governed by 
chemical force. Picked up, I may say, of the atoms 
of the earth, both mineral and vegetable, that exist 
every where, combined with the gases that move in 
the immensity of space, we become an organized body, 
by a vital force given us, and moved by a physical 
force, while the object of such movement is governed 
by the mental force. 

Thus we are a wonder to ourselves. You that be- 
lieve only what you see, tell me how you live ? Tell me 
how you are conscious of existence, and say unmis- 
takably that your identity remains ? By a self-con- 
sciousness, is all the answer you can give; and how 
unsatisfactory it is. Again, can you tell me why you 
move? Tell me how the forces of the mind act, to 
produce thought and convert it into physical power ? 
If you are not able to explain your own being, how 
are you going to be able to explain the other intricate 
working of natural laws? 

But, finite as we are, there is given to us a meas- 
ure of knowledge. We are able to turn our eyes, as 
it were, within ourselves and see our human struct- 
ure and, by the aid of the knowledge of chemistry, 
can analyze the human body; observe the action of 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 117 

the vital forces, in giving up atom after atom to be 
replaced by new ones, that take upon themselves the 
form and likeness of the ones displaced, then, stimu- 
lated by the same power, and brought into contact 
with each other by the law of chemical affinity, we 
see them fulfill their great mission of building the hu- 
man temple; constructing it out of tissues springing 
forth trom cells, to feed upon the elements of the 
blood. Thus, atom upon atom, our tissues are 
builded to complete a beautiful frame-work, the per- 
fection of life, standing out in fine symmetrical figure, 
the noblest work of creation — MAN. 

He is governed by the physical forces. Moves, 
not as the forest, that bows to every gale that sweeps 
its branches without thought or object, but with a 
physical power that speaks of a higher creation, and 
a result of a controlling influence — Life. It is now 
a frame-work, a building with which, in fineness of 
structure, nothing can compare. The brain, the 
nerves, the muscles, are all operated upon by these 
laws, which work in perfect unison. 

All substances entering into the different organisms 
of living tissue and being, bear the same relation to 
matter. The lime, soda, potassa, oxygen, hydrogen 
and nitrogen are identical in all other substances. 
The lime entering into the formation of the shell of 
the oyster and mollusk is, in substance, the same as 
the lime in the bones of the vertebrate and mamma" 



Il8 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

lian. The albumen in the lower order of life is the 
same as in the higher order. The brain substance in 
the lower of animals is the same, chemically, as in 
man, yet how different in its operation and power? 
Where ever we look, down the line of created life, we 
see the vast difference in the adjustment and adapta- 
tion of these molecules that compose the substance 
of the different planes of life. Why was atom after 
atom, and molecule after molecule, taken and depos- 
ited in the shell of the mollusk to form its case of 
senseless matter, in beautiful curves and circles, trim- 
med with the most gorgeous tints and colors in Na- 
ture's labratory ot Art, while in the mammalia it 
is carried away by mysterious forces and power and 
deposited, atom upon atom, and molecule upon mole- 
cule, to form the structures of the animal frame and 
mould the form of man, from the same material sub- 
stance, into a more noble and majestic figure to be the 
recipient of the highest powers of earth ? 

Can it be otherwise than, that within the being of 
each living structure, there is an entity which, acting 
upon the natural forces, is using and controlling them 
to build up a habitation of its own; whatever the na- 
ture of that entity may be, whether man, animal or 
the lower order of life ? The life force of the mollusk 
cannot frame the structure of the horse, nor compile 
the atoms and molecules to form the stature of man. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 119 

Each must work to their own end, and the working 
of each indicates a purpose. 

There is a similarity in these vital forces, and yet 
they are separate. They are all operative in building 
a structure, but how vast the difference in the struct- 
ures built ? How close they are in their natures, and ' 
yet what a vast gulf there is between them. Man is 
not conscious of the working of these forces, and still, 
the frame-work is subservient to the power of his 
mind. Unconsciously they are forming, displacing 
and building the structure of the material frame. 

All things indicate order, harmony and concert of 
action, as the great principles of the living frame. No 
chance. No happening so. Every particle of the 
body is influenced by the chemical force that holds 
each atom in complete opposition from all the tissues, 
while the vital forces fill every bioplast and inter- 
space of the organic substance, but not affecting or 
displacing any of the chemical power; and the great- 
est of all the honored guests of this living temple, 
the Soul, takes up its abode as a medium for its as- 
sociation in this world. They are all forces capable 
of existing in the same body at one and the same 
time. Unobstructed their powers vie with each oth- 
er in forming a perfect whole, of which one part is as 
much of the body as another. Cut the hand, and in- 
stantly the brain senses the pain. Crush the foot, 
and at once the whole mental forces are racked in 



120 THOUGHTS ON MAN ; 

sympathy, instantly rushing to the rescue of the 
weaker parts. 

How can we say, that man is only a material thing, 
and that he is created for no purpose but to remain 
for a time, then die and pass forever out from view. 
God does not work for play. Nature does not throw 
herself away, or spend her force to none effect. 

Then for these reasons, if for none other, we would 
conclude that man was created for a noble work and 
purpose, and that purpose was, to hold, and be the 
instrument ot, another force, — the mind, — through 
which the soul, or immortal principle of man, may 
communicate with the world. Life is in every tissue. 
Cut the hand and it telegraphs the pain. Crush the 
foot and the whole body feels the shock. Sympathy 
is the all prevailing power to preserve life. Step by 
step we have advanced in the scale of creation, and 
the higher we rise the more complete the system, un- 
til we see them fading in the distance and dying away 
into the incomprehensible things that shall remain 
undisclosed until He who shall proclaim the end of 
time shall lift the veil of mystery forever. If the 
other forces are mysterious how much more the 
mental force? That force which makes us kings of 
all the earth. It is that which has spanned the 
mighty deep. It has chained the lightnings and 
caused them to obey the will of man. It has pierced 
the canopy of the heavens, collected the stars in 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 121 

groups and named them by families and systems, as 
children of our homes. Then dashed away into the 
immensity of space to trace the comets in their 
flight through the mighty heavens, to behold them as 
they give up their attractive power and from a re- 
pulsive action dart away, once more, on their mighty 
paths, to space unknown. It has groped in the 
depths of the sea and found the wealth of the coral 
reefs ; opened the bowels of the earth and brought 
forth its gold and diamonds, and laughed at the fossil 
forms so long lain hid. Ah yes ! It does more than 
this, it fixes the destiny of man, and causes mind to 
act on mind, to the production of good or the steep- 
ing of the soul in crime. 

This is the medium by which we sympathize in 
affliction, comfort in sorrow and shape our course for 
our life to come. Mind is the link between the earth- 
ly and the divine. With one hand it reaches to the 
gates of heaven, and with the other it ministers to 
the wants of earth. 

One more step and our foothold is gone, we are 
precipitated into the vast unknown. The life the 
home, the origin of the soul, revealed only by the 
revelation of God but proven by the laws that be. 

The soul of man, the great immortal principle, it 
exists without material form and therefore is not held 
by chemical force. It is wholly under the control of 
a spiritual power, which connects us with a higher 



122 

life, making us a little lower than the angels, capable 
of choosing or refusing one of the two great powers 
which exist in life — good and evil. 

It is this which acts through mind, and determines 
the result of our every act. It sets in motion the 
brain cells which bring forth a power, when directed 
by the intent of the immortal principle, resulting in 
mind. Then the mind is a force produced by cel- 
lular movements and sets in action a substance our 
senses cannot perceive, also stimulated by the desire 
and intent of the soul, to act upon the physical 
power of man, as a medium by which we communi- 
cate with the world. The choosing and refusing is 
done through the medium of the mind of man, or a 
part thereof, called the will. 

As the forces of Nature are a power emanating 
from the presence of the Mighty Father, so the mind, 
in less degree only, is a force emanating from the 
soul of man, manifesting itself in its varied forms 
of Emotion, Intelligence and Will, wherein lies the 
free moral agency of man. Therefore man shall be 
judged by the intent of the heart and the result 
shall rest or fall upon the transgressor, but if the 
brain of man is diseased and results in varied forms 
of ungovernable forces, then the judgment will fall 
upon the physical system. The action of the brain 
is similar, in comparison, to the forces which cause 
zinc and carbon to act in polarity, when immersed in 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 23 

the battery fluid, causing by their action the electric 
current that traverses our globe in a moment of time, 
and, when controlled by the operator, transmits the 
message from place to place. . 

By the nature and relation of the soul we would 
conclude that it is a created thing, influenced and 
operated by the action of the two great principles 
that have existed from the beginning of time, living 
parallel with God. 

When we do an act it cannot be undone. So it is 
when God creates a soul, it cannot be obliterated, 
but will live through all time in enjoyment or eternal 
misery, according as it has exerted the powers of will, 
when under the laws of this earth, in choosing or re- 
fusing good and evil. 

It is true the soul may die, but the death spoken of, 
I think, means the banishment from the presence of 
God, and the enjoyments of heaven. Then the time 
for choosing its destiny will have been past. As the 
tree falls so must it lie. It has been assigned its 
place in the spiritual world, by the law that was es- 
tablished from the beginning of time, for by the word 
judgment is made. The principles within it, the de- 
sire of the soul, brings it under the attraction of one 
of these spiritual forces, where it will rest for ever. 
Its polarity then can never change, These forces are 
so arranged that they form a connecting chain, from 
God above to man below. They are continually 



124 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

acting upon the mind of man, and a disconnecting 
of these forces from us shuts us off from the com- 
munication, by intelligence, with the world. 

When the brain becomes diseased we do innu- 
merable things without ideation, for this would be 
the action of an impaired brain, or one incomplete, 
and in such a case, the soul would not be held ac- 
countable, so far as the act was concerned, for the 
chain of connection would be broken. 

The chasm is deep, the distance is great that sep- 
parates man below from the Man above, and yet how 
near. There is an impenetrable something that inter- 
venes to shut out the glories of the spirit world. 

There are various links that may be removed, and 
thereby alter materially our connection with the forces 
beyond, and change the action of the mind of man. 
The body may be paralyzed, and the limbs refuse to 
do the bidding of the will. The brain cells may be 
destroyed, and no force transmitted, or, certain chan- 
nels and nerve centers may be diseased, and result in 
perverted action of the motor power. Or the soul 
may separate the cable, that safely anchors.it in the 
forces of God, and leave itself to drift wherever the 
influences of satanic power may carry it. 

These powers are the forces which have shaken the 
universe, disturbed the equilibrium of heaven and 
caused commotion upon the earth. It has delegated 
to it, certain latitude, and there a line of demarkation 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 1 25 

is drawn,' that separates the living from the'dead. 

Descending the scale, from the great Creator and 
Ruler^of the Universe, to the created, we find them 
grouped in threes, called trinities. The God-head, 
consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. 

God, being a spirit, must be approached and look- 
ed upon through the spiritual forces, but His nature 
and power can be seen through the action of natural 
laws. For an illustration : Light, heat and electric- 
ity are three imponderable agents. They contain nei- 
ther space or weight, and the laws that govern them 
cannot be applied to other substances, or used to 
govern other things, outside of their sphere of being. 
God, then, we consider the originator of spiritual 
force, it being a part of His nature. He, occupying 
a higher scale of being and system of laws requires 
neither weight, time or space, and as light shines 
through glass and electricity passes through metal 
so does the presence of God permeate the earth. If 
He were of the earth then these things could not be ; 
but being wholly of another nature is not restrained 
or obstructed by other laws and forces, for in Him is 
the fullness of all. 

Therefore, man being created in the image of God, 
partakes of His likeness. First, in the fact that the 
soul is a spiritual being, deriving that principle from 
the fountain of life. Second : That he is composed 
of a trinity, or, three in one, viz: Soul, Spirit and Body. 



126 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

We will now take the spirit, or mind, of man and 
sub-divide it, and we have the three principal forces 
of the mind, — Intellect, Emotion and Volition, or 
Will. 

Intellect is composed of, Ideas, Expectation and 
Imagination. With these faculties we grasp the 
present, and arrange facts in rational forms; weigh- 
ing matters in the mind, and deliberating according 
to the mental laws. It reaches back in the by-gone 
days, brings to mind impressions that have lain long 
upon the dusty shelf of Memory, and fans into a 
flame the hidden sparks of thought, until the past 
almost seems to be the present. It resurrects the 
object of love, and brings to view the shadows of 
things that have long gone by, and the forms, figures 
and faces of friends that have long since passed from 
view ; and through imagination, we enjoy the associa- 
tion of many years that have remained as a latent 
force in mind. 

Then we reach out in the future, and, with the tel- 
escope mind of expectant faith, and imaginative 
power of things to be, we discern the things before 
they appear. We reach for things we wish for, with 
a faith that they exist and a hope that we may se- 
cure them. Then, with the imagination, we bring 
close the treasure until it is almost within our grasp, 
and with the expectation of enjoying the object of 
our desire, or the full possession of the things to be, 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 27 

we give way to our emotion until the cheeks are be- 
dewed and the eyes rain tears of joy. You know 
not why, only that it is the emotional feelings of the 
mind, a force without space or weight, and yet 
powerful in character. 

It changes the polarity of contiguous minds and 
causes them to act in unison, and harmonizes thought. 
This is what we call sympathy. As in the language 
of the poet: 

The mutual love, the kind intelligence, 

Twixt heart and heart, this sympathy doth bring. 

Grief may arise from intelligence of some sad event 

and cause the head to bow in anguish, and bitter, 

scalding tears to fill the cup of woe. 

The face is blanched and sad the mein, 
For naught but darkness and gloom doth reign 
Within, a sea of troubled thought doth move the breast, 
It seeks for rest, but none is found. 

And thus the power of the mind may act through 
the Emotion to give expression to all that moves 
within. The muscles may contract, the face may 
flush or blush, or convulsive seizures may shake the 
frame, the eye may flash its fire, or, with sad, implor- 
ing look, may fix its gaze, it is all the force of the 
mind, shining out of its mortal wall. Stimulated by 
intelligence, acted upon by the soul and held account- 
able by the will. 

In the lower animals, as the ox or the horse, the 



128 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

act is stimulated by the power of emotion set in 
action by the will, with but a vague act of intelli- 
gence. They have no perfect ideal, because ideas 
come from reasoning, but by a recalling of the act 
once performed they seek to repeat the same, stim- 
ulated by the emotion or passion, and propelled by 
the will, without the idea of intelligence and moral 
responsibility with which man is endowed. They 
are simply the lower grades of expectation and imagi- 
nation, which we might call, a reflex action that re- 
sults in love and fear of the baser kind, and not in 
any ideal of intelligence and moral responsibility. 
Here is the great and marked difference between man 
and the lower animals. Man has a soul, endowed 
with a power from God, susceptible to the two 
great influences which surround us, good and evil, 
and therefore was endowed with a greater mental 
latitude. Thus by the fact of having a soul, and a 
higher mental organism, man becomes a responsible 
being. All persons, except Atheists, believe that 
man was created in the image of his Maker. This is 
true in more than one sense. He is like Him in 
Trinity ; He is like Him in Spiritual Entity, and 
in one more respect 'he is like Him, and that is, in the 
action of mind. The lesser is always chosen to illus- 
trate the greater, and therefore, the mind and nature 
of man is only an image of his Maker showing the 
nature and power of God in a very imperfect form. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 29 

The ingenuity of man is only a faint shadow of the 
wisdom and power of God. Man takes of Nature the 
forces and power therein contained and takes from 
earth's laboratory, matter and so applies it by the 
ingenuity inherent in him and the wisdom and 
knowledge acquired by adaptation of mind, as to 
effect new causes and change results. There is in 
all his plan of work a looking forward to the result 
and that result is based upon a purpose. This same 
principle is the one given him from the time of his 
creation. It was not acquired by labor, or self ac- 
quired knowledge, it is not something that has grown 
to him by ages gone by and the development of races, 
for, from the first knowledge of the existence of man, 
was the evidence of a purpose in all his acts. Pur- 
pose was the basis from which all voluntary energy 
acted. This purpose of mind first existed in the 
Maker and entered into man to make him like unto 
his Creator. So man reflects the nature and power 
of God, for, through His likeness we see all His labors 
as a result of a purpose and not from any chance 
combination of forces, acting from different points as 
motives, and so producing the result. Man certainly 
acts from motives, but, that he has the force to choose 
from the different motives to which he is brought in 
contact, I must as strongly adhere to. Here the 
voluntary- acts are manifest in choosing from the mo- 
tive forces those things which are woven into the 
9 



130 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

fabric of life's character and makes it noble and worthy 
of praise, or fit to be cast aside as unclean and below 
the plane of moral conception. It is also said that 
human actions always conform to constant laws. If 
all would admit the existence of a higher state of 
mind than that of man, then we could solve this 
problem, even on that basis, by throwing the respon- 
sibility of man back on a higher plane, where he 
would be dependent upon the choice of spiritual 
forces which influence the motives and also the will. 
There are as strong spiritual laws existing in the 
spiritual nature of man, and as unchangeable, as any 
physical laws on earth. In the question of man's 
freedom of choice, I would not hold out the principle 
that man was not influenced by his surroundings. 
Man may not be able to control all the circumstances 
by which the flood of mental light rolls before his 
mind and presents in varied forms and colors alike, 
the good and bad. It is necessary that all these 
things should be, that man may exercise that power 
which exists in his nature, with his judgment, 
through the exercise of his mental powers he separ- 
ates, as does the prism the rays of light, the various 
thronging ideas, thoughts and visions which come 
rushing o'er the mental field, and, with the act of 
choice, he gathers, in clear and distinct lines, the 
varied influences which operate upon his mind. 
Then with the will takes, here and there according to 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 3 I 

his own inclination and desire, such as please 
him, and adopts them as instruments of his own 
choice. Not from a vacuum of non-existing mental 
forces but from a field of existing influences which 
swarm around him continually, for otherwise he 
would have nothing to choose from. 

But man may frame his own ideas. He goes out 
into the world of mind with the power of choice. 
He gathers the fragments here and there of influences 
and conceptions of other minds and takes these 
seeming useless or powerless impressions and frames 
and fits to his own conceptions an idea satisfying his 
own spiritual entity. 

The purity, or corrupt, nature of these ideas will be 
according to the nature of the builder, for the forces 
of the soul is the master workman, and by these 
forces the fragments of influence are accepted or re- 
jected and framed and fitted to form the character 
of the immortal man. I go out into the quarry 
where lies the rock and stone of all shapes and na- 
tures. I gather for my structure out of these hard 
and shapeless rocks. I lay the wall to suit the inclina- 
tion and will, a wall of strength and beauty, or of 
weakness and shame. The presentation of the ma- 
terial was involuntary, but the choice was the work 
of my will, and by such a choice will the structure 
stand or fall, and like unto this is the operation of the 
mind of man. And he is indeed responsible for that 



132 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

which is committed to his care. Man feels this sense 
of responsibility, however much he may strive to 
banish these impressions from his mind. 

If there was no moral responsibility then there 
would be no right and wrong. But, as we see the 
effect of both of these influences around us every day 
of our lives, we cannot deny the fact of a responsi- 
bility following. As the falling of a weight to the 
earth, speaks of the law of gravitation, so does the 
fact of there being good and evil confirm the idea of 
a moral responsibility. We will not stop to speak 
of. what this responsibility is, of its reward or pen- 
alty, but pass on to consider the next active mental 
principle of the mind and its apprehensive power. 

The spiritual entity of man has its members by 
and through which it gives to surrounding beings gifts 
of thought and idea conceptions and takes in return 
the gifts and powers of other entities. These mem- 
bers are, Sight, Speech and Hearing. From the eye, 
silent but impressive, flashes forth the very essence 
of the soul. Love, hate, joy and grief are, alike, mes- 
sages that dance, as electric sparks, in the power of 
vision, and message after message is thus conveyed 
by this power alone. There is, in the associations 
of life, that, which if the interchanging powers were 
visible in sparks of electric fire, the glare would be 
equal to the thunderbolts of heaven, that flash in the 
midnight canopy of the darkened sky. Again, the 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 33 

soft halo of love, shining upon the face, sends its sott 
and silvery rays to lighten up the saddened and de- 
spondent soul, and chase the shadows of dark dis- 
pair from the recesses of the heart. By its mellow- 
ing influence hate is made to vanish as a cloud before 
the summer sun. Thus mind is made to vie with 
mind, and take from the laboratory of the mind of one 
and store away, on Memory's shelf, the thoughts, la- 
beled and prepared for future use; to be recalled at a 
moment's thought. 

With the hand one pens his thoughts, as they 
come rippling down the avenues of the human mind, 
gathered, perhaps, in drops from the Alpine heighths 
or mortal ideas, liquified and inspired by the influence 
of the rays of God's inspiring love, and stand as evi- 
dence of the soul from which they sprung. Then 
the eye of another glances over the page, and the 
mind grasps the thought, inspired like unto the mind 
from whence it came, and both drink from the same 
ideal fount and quench the desires of a thirsty soul, 
longing to obtain the riches from the hidden wonders 
of the vast unknown. 

So, by these faculties we take and give, as truly as 
if it were our hand. More apprehensive than a per- 
fect physique could possibly be, quietly, silently, and 
yet how powerful? With a force that cannot be es- 
timated, until time shall end, and the results of ages 



134 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

are summed up and spread before the eye of immor- 
tal man, as the balance sheet of Time. 

Then, emotions of the mind are the waste-gate 
and mirror of the soul. When the heart, or soul, is 
oppressed, bowed in gloom, and the night shades of 
mental darkness have gathered in cloudy mist over 
the mental sky, stern intelligence seems smothered and 
choked by evil forebodings, and the motive will is in- 
active, dull and paralyzed by the gathering elements 
in the mental horizon, then the movements of the 
distracted elements begins to stir the forces of the 
mind. The sky still darkens in the mental heavens ; 
the waving and swaying of the powers of the will in- 
crease until the elements well forth in a flood of sor- 
row and tears. 

Or, again, you glance into the face of peace and 
content, where the light heart beats cheerfully, and 
the mental sky is clear, with no clouds visable in its 
horizon, and you see reflected there, as in a mirror, 
in rays of light and splendor, the outlines of a hea- 
venly soul. Although the body dies, and the mirror 
fades away, the soul shines on in immortality. 

Or, it may reflect with the fierce eye of hate, as it 
flashes forth with satanic lustre from beneath the 
low and darkened brow; and the evil thoughts and 
deeds that are lying in wait, in silent and grim sat- 
isfaction, may crawl out, neath the darkened look, as 
the prey comes within its grasp. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 35 

Again, Love, the sunbeam of life, shines forth from 
the very surface of the face, and its warming influence 
penetrates the sympathizing heart, until in its vibra- 
tion, heart responds to heart, in unison, and its sun- 
beams penetrate the heavenly space and lights up 
the soul with a radiance that drives away the dark- 
ness, and, even changes the form of the grim mon- 
ster — Death, until it fades into a mist that the eye 
of faith can penetrate. 

It stoops and lifts from degradation and shame 
the one that has gone astray, and raises him to the 
higher plane of life, where the soul is caught by the 
heavenly breeze and wafted away, amid rejoicing, to 
the mansions of heavenly rest. 

Emotion may lead us away in a butterfly chase of 
life. The object seems almost within our reach, and 
we can nearly grasp the imaginary prize that we are 
seeking. But it flutters, flies, and passes from 
our view. The phantom lake of Joy may urge us on, 
and the imaginary belted stream across the desert 
plains is just in view, which causes the heart to leap 
and the tears of joy to flow, as truly as if it were so. 
But an eminence is reached, again we look, and 
the object of our pursuit has vanished. 

Emotion may be true or false. True emotion con- 
sists in action caused by the revolution of mind, 
based upon probabilities, or at least possibilities, the 
ideal cause of which is true. False emotion is that, 



I36 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

wherein imaginary truths have caused the heart to 
leap and palpitate at some vague idea, or some castle 
built in air, hung by the silken thread of imagination, 
and looked upon through a lense of double power, 
that magnifies the phantom thought. 

Man was created with an intellect to think, an 
emotion to feel, and a will to move. And, as he 
wills, he stands accountable to his Maker, who has 
chosen to put within his hands, the reins of action, 
that he, of his own free will, may run his course of 
life. The will is the force that puts in action the mo- 
tive power of the mind, and causes man to cease his 
evil doings and turn his face toward the City of Eter- 
nal Rest. 

It is the will that directs the course of him who 
has started on the rugged road of life; hews his way 
through walls of difficulty and places him on an emi- 
nence far above his associates in the race. It propels 
the work of mighty deeds, measures heighths and 
sounds the depths of earth. It holds the forces of this 
world within its grasp, and chains electric force be- 
neath its feet. It is the will of man that shapes his 
course across the ocean of Time, and when storms 
arise and beat him from his moral path ; when toss- 
ing billows seem about to engulf the struggling char- 
acter of man, the soul stands at the helm with its 
gaze fixed on objects far beyond — a star of light in 
the distant future — and, firmly grasping the wheel, 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 37 

turns the helm to breast the waves of life, that foam 
and lash the tossing bark. Firm he stands, as if cut 
in granite, with determination strong, the chart of in- 
telligence before his eye, his face lighted up by the 
lamp of Divine power, he clears the tempestuous 
reef, out-rides the storms of adversity, and, at last 
glides safely on the still waters of a pure life, and in- 
to the haven of Eternal Peace. 

I have seen the noble young man, who had given 
away to the emotional feelings of his mind, led to the 
sparkling cup, the enticing games of the dens of infa- 
my and crime, forgetting intelligence, the chart of mor- 
ality, and, with a will made weak by indulgence in 
sin, revel, and waste away a life that once bid fair to 
reach an eminence in the scale of usefulness. 

Friends, brothers, and readers, how stands your 
will to-day? Do you see, by the light of your intel- 
ligence, your way clear, and your path straight, across 
the streams of Difficulty? Go down below the deck 
that covers your heart. Examine the ropes that 
work the will. Examine the helm that is to shape 
your course through life, and see that it is sound and 
firm, and working well. Go to your pilot and see if 
he is at his post, with bearings right, the chart of in- 
telligence before his face, and fully alive for the great 
race of life or death. Now take the glass, draw the 
the focus long, and see just a faint outline of blue 



I3 8 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

above the ocean line of Time. That, is the Promised 
Land. 

A surging, troubled sea is before you, that must be 
crossed. Already you have started on the ocean of 
Time. To turn back is impossible. Fear not, for 
you have all that is necessary for your success. The 
fixed star of Hope, your will to move, your emotion 
to propel, and your intelligence to guide. By perse- 
vering labor and good intent, you will anchor in the 
harbor of Eternal Rest. And, as the scenes of the 
other world become more vivid and distinct, then the 
mists will begin to clear away, and that which you 
once saw through a glass darkly, then you will see 
face to face. Then, as the keel of your wayworn 
bark grates upon the sands of the other shore, there 
will appear unto you the glories of the City of Gold, 
with its gates of pearls. 

Here you will leave the floating wreck of a human 
frame that has born you through the material world, 
and let it drift back to the elements of which it was 
composed. It has done its work well; it has served 
you from the time you first embarked on your jour- 
ney of life ; it has born you across the ocean of Time, 
and now you bid it a last farewell. Your soul is 
anchored within the city. 

You cut the cable which unites the trinity of man 
you and plant your feet on the shores of eternity. 

Here you will bask in the forces of good and are 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 39 

no longer under the laws and forces that govern the 
material world. Then you will live in the fountain 
of everlasting peace, which was faintly supplied to 
you through the long chain and medium of laws 
and forces which governed the sphere in which you 
existed. You will no longer be tossed and drifted 
by the waves of temptations and trouble upon the 
waters of Time. And why? Because you will then 
drink at the fountain head, where no impurities can 
come, and not from the long stream of life, as it 
flowed to you through the corruption of the world, 
flooded by temptation and poisoned by the evil 
influences of the natural mind. 



«<1THE BEGINNING OF MANJ> 



CHAPTER V. 



Babe of mortality, 
Where is thy mother now ? 
Who gave thy birth to thee, 
And placed upon thy brow 
Prints of mortality ? 

Who gave thee form of earth, 
Of which thou dost consist, 
And kept thee safely through 
All ages unto this; 
And entity preserved ? 

Is not thy mother, earth ? 
And Father, the Great Supreme 
Who gave thee life and breath, 
A spirit and soul to live 
Throughout eternity ? 

In man we see combined 
The earthly and divine; 
A body made from dusc, 
The soul from God, sublime, 
Dwells in unity. 



MpT seems evident when God created man, making 
G]@3 him a little below the angels, and setting be- 
eA© fore him the two elements of the spiritual world, 
good and evil, that the evil spirit which pre- 
vailed in the universe, although not able to 
create a being of his own, had the power to 
attack the creatures of God's creation and appropri- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 141 

ate their faculties to his own use by the consent of 
the created. Although being inferior to God in 
power he had a latitude through which he could 
work and a sphere through which he could move. 
He could tempt, he could persuade and could take 
captive by consent 

It seems through the natural course of events 
that the forces existing before the world was, were 
not in their nature designed to lay idle, but, being of 
essence of the Almighty, they must move in a course 
of progression and so in the course of his creation 
which may have taken place by the process of the 
laws which existed in Him, or created by Him, the 
world was formed, creation after creation, merged 
from the invisible and stood forth as the works of 
His hand. He saw fit to place man at the throne 
of the great list. Although all things which He 
had created spoke of power and glory yet was none 
found that had a mind and will to raise their voice 
in praise and adoration, for, that seemed necessary to 
complete the honors and glorification of the Maker 
of all things that were made. 

Now, He created man and fashioned him after His 
own image and instilled into him a force of His divine 
nature, combining- with the elements and forces of 
earth, made him a living soul, and gave him the action 
of the forces of the brain which we call mind. For, at 
once He caused all living creatures to pass before him 



I42 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

and he called them by the names they should bare. 

That man should not be a mere machine, He gave 
him the power to choose and refuse, and a special 
power and life of his own, that by so doing he might 
of his own will be subject to the forces of good and 
evil, for nothing else would make him more than the 
other creatures of the earth. There [was set before 
him the fruits of good and evil of which he must 
not partake. Here was the first responsibility ever 
imposed upon man, and that by the exercising of 
his own mind, he might reject the evil and then eat 
of the fruit of the tree of life, which was also placed 
within his reach, and live forever. 

He gave to man, as He did to all living creatures, 
the power to transmit all the life and force existing 
in him, his peculiarities and species, to his offspring, 
and therefore he commanded man to go forth and 
inherit the great bounties of earth and multiply, 
that millions of voices might rise in praise for the 
glories manifest on earth, and that His praises might 
live forever. 

But as soon as God had withdrawn from the 
presence of man, and left him to the action of his 
own choice, the other power, which was *evil, at 
once approached him in the way least expected. 
Knowing perhaps that any direct approach to him 
would be met by a rebuke, and so by this only 
available source, the love for his companion, he was 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 1 43 

caused to disobey, to yield to the influence of the 
evil spirit, and so, dishonor God. By the wisdom of 
Him who rules forever, a way was prepared for the 
redemption of man, and, by repentance, He should 
receive a greater glory through his salvation. It 
seems true, and I believe can be fairly sustained, 
that the soul of the first Adam was a gift of the 
life and essence of the Almighty, as was also the 
last Adam. But that to the first Adam was the 
command given to multiply and replenish the earth. 
So it was established as a law in that great plan, 
that whosoever should be born to him should in- 
herit a transmitted influence, or his whole nature, 
and simultaneous with the growth of the body and 
development into animal life, was the creation of the 
soul, by a budding or transmitted influence. As 
the penalty for sin was spiritual death, so was the 
spiritual life of the second Adam, which is Christ, 
a reviver to that soul. Christ stands for the 
original tree of life, and by a transmitted influence 
of His spirit, we fulfill the mission of glorification 
which was intended in the beginning, and that makes 
us the glorified redeemed. And may it not be true 
that each soul is not a separate act of the creative 
power, only so far as it is a dividing, budding and 
multiplying from a contact of forces, which first 
originated from the attributes of God, that will con-' 
tinue on until the end of time when propagation of 



144 THOUGHTS ON MAN ; 

species shall cease. When, as in the good book it 
is said, there shall be no more marriage or giving in 
marriage, but all one in Christ Jesus. And then in 
the growth and identity of the soul we shall have a 
gathering and assimulatoin of the spiritual forces to 
strengthen and build separate, idenities and existing 
beings, other than the parents from which it sprang. 
The same as the germ of the physical man takes on 
the growth, development and identity of its parent 
and becomes a separate being. It takes no stronger 
philosophy or belief, in one than in the other. It 
does not lessen the power of God, or detract from His 
glory, for He created the first, and all the forces, 
which govern the whole plan of the universal world. 
Life also is a force, or vital principle, coming from 
the Divine mind. 

I sit and pen my thoughts upon paper, it is con- 
verted into print, read by other persons, grasped by 
other minds, and, now become a force which goes on 
and on, from mind to mind, influencing life, changing 
the character, instituting thought, controlling de- 
cision, modifying, or changing in one form or another, 
until the end of time. This is a new creation of a 
special thought, nevertheless it originated from 
something, and that something was the force of the 
mind. So from the mind of the Great Creator comes 
the vital forces of life, emanating from the will 
and activity of Himself. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 1 45 

It does not lessen or weaken our mind to think 
and express thought. Neither does it exhaust the 
fullness of God to convert his mind into force, that 
sends life and animation into every living thing, and 
by its being transmitted, along the line of evolution 
of offspring, the world inherits this life-giving influ- 
ence from the Divine power. 

As the written book is only expressions of the 
mind and brain of man, so the immutable forces 
of God, manifest in the existence of the soul and 
mind of man, are only expressive of the mighty power 
and fullness of the Almighty Father, and are but a 
faint glimpse of the fullness of the mind of God. 

Then, vitality and life are forces, or imperceptible 
somethings, designed to fulfill a mission, and that 
mission is to build of earthly matter, a tenement, tem- 
ple, or house, for the soul. To aid the vital forces 
in gathering the material, there was also instituted a 
chemical force, with laws of combination and union 
so complete as to change, by their relative quantities, 
the ordinary substances of earth, into material of 
which to form this living structure, which the vitaliz- 
ing forces take and arrange in form to construct the 
living body. In the multiplication of species this vital 
force is transmitted with the organized matter, simul- 
taneous with that of the soul, to form the new being, 
which you and I represent. 

Now, there are special forces, or creations, that are 
10 



I46 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

governed and controlled in their own immediate body. 
But chemical force, gravity, etc., live and exist 
throughout all matter and are not transmitted by a 
budding and dividing influence, but are general. 
Yet all of these forces are the out-growths from the 
mind of God, created by Him and set in action 
by the Divine power. 

We take a watch and place it open before us. We 
see the measured stroke of the lever, and its regular- 
ity notes its power. There is in the watch an evidence 
of a design, an intention of the mind of man. Within 
the mechanism there is a force which the eye cannot 
perceive, or the mind of man comprehend. We may 
call it a watch force. The maker, knowing the result 
of the combination of forces that are acting, one up- 
on the other, causing it to move in its regular order, 
has fashioned and placed them at his will. He only 
utilized the forces already existing. The greatest 
force manifested in all the work is in the adapting ot 
the natural laws, which is the work of intelligence, 
and the result of the conception, purpose and will of 
man. This is only a type of the origin and operation 
of the great machinery ot Nature, that is open before 
us on every hand, speaking of the purpose and design 
of the superhuman mind. 

The relations of man to the Supreme Being is well 
illustrated by the forces of electricity on matter. 
Let a current of electricity be passed, through a coil 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 1 47 

of wire, around an iron bar, and the result is a mag- 
netic force, in all its activity, within that metal. It 
is not electricty then, but is changed to a magnetic 
force, that differs from the electric current in its ac- 
tion, and, when applied to tempered steel, will retain 
for a time, its power of action after the electric force 
has been withdrawn. So it is with man. When the 
forces of the mind the Supreme Being surrounds the 
material which enters into the composition of man, 
there enters into it a created torce, which acts to a 
certain extent as an independent force, capable of ex- 
erting its influence upon surrounding bodies inde- 
pendent of the power which gave it birth. This 
power may be called the free moral agency of man. 

Let the iron bar be divided, and the result would 
be, the power of magnetic force in each part. But 
let us apply a chemical action, with stronger affinities 
for its constituent parts, and at once there is a break- 
ing up of its composition, and the magnetic power 
has fled; not destroyed, as might be supposed by 
many, but stored away in an inactive form, or com- 
bined with other forces ;to produce certain results. 

So in the multiplication of species, each offspring 
bears the same force and energy of the parental body 
and retains it independent of other parts. But when 
dissolution comes to the body, by the common ene- 
my — death, then there is a fleeing of the life and ac- 
tivity from the physical frame. The spirit departs 



I48 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

to the Great Supreme Power who gave it, and the 
material returns to the common substance of earth. 
The great creative power of the Supreme loses none 
of its energy, but goes on fulfilling its mission in the 
great plan of the Infinite mind. 

But, as organized beings are on a higher plane, and 
under a more complicated system of laws, this analo- 
gy cannot be completed ; neither is it possible to use 
earthly substances and natural forces to illustrate 
fully spiritual laws and being, but we can use such 
as may enable the mind to catch a thought that 
words cannot express or language portray. 

How great are the ways of God. It has always 
been one of the great mysteries of man, to know his 
beginning and ending. Theologians and scien tists 
travel back together, hand in hand, over the past ages 
of time; the one led by the light of Divine inspiration, 
the other by the slow process of scientific investiga- 
tion. One has climbed to the top-most peak of the 
prophetic mountain, where, above the clouds of earth, 
he can behold, at a glance, the works of the Divine 
hand, as penned in the great book of Nature, and 
written upon the page of Divine inspiration. The 
other has, with wearied tread, traversed the hill and 
valley with chain and hammer, chemicals and glass, 
entered the bowels of the earth and measured its 
crystallizing powers, and crawled along the bed of the 
shining deep to trace the supposed primative germs 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 1 49 

of life, and, if possible, find the "Missing Link," that 
binds the created living to the created dead. 

They have built massive structures upon which to 
mount the telesopic glass and sweep the mighty 
space of heaven, and count the worlds, only to be 
more bewildered with their number, and turn again 
to the book of oid and read : " They are like the 
sands of the sea." Here the minds of the two con- 
verge, and they equally behold the forces and powers 
of the universal world. Science proves the power of 
Divine inspiration, which in turn, establishes the cor- 
rectness of Science. 

There is much ground that Science has not travel- 
ed, and space that she has not seen. If ages roll on 
Science will still be progressing. But the Divine 
word: each sentence contains a volume in itself. It 
all was explained, it would make volume after vol- 
ume that the mind of man could not retain. Move 
on scientific world, for you increase our faith and 
strengthen our belief in the Divine mind and exist- 
ence of a God. 

The fog of scientists has overspread their sky until 
they have- been forced from time to time to fall back 
on the light of the Divine word for relief and save 
their stranded wreck of Science. 

Astronomers and geologists lead us back into the 
dim past, when the universe was filled with a gas- 
eous substance, when the earth was without form and 



I50 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

void, and darkness filled the immensity of space, but 
silent is the words that disclose the power that caus- 
ed these gases, that were destined to figure down, 
through the ages of time, and the maker of the prima- 
tive elements of which the universe was composed, 

They tell us of an attraction which caused a con- 
densing and gravitation of matter until the heavens 
were ablaze with the fire-mist, but tell us not of the 
hand or creative power that established these forces 
of condensation and gravitation. They tell us of the 
primative ocean and its substance, of its encrustation 
and land formation. Of the heaving of its great 
bosom and breathing of its firey vapors. 

How light was the result of heat from condensa- 
tion of matter. How the sea fled and dry land ap- 
peared and slated the mighty deep with crusts of 
matter. They then open out a history of a new age 
where there were manifestations of vegetable life. 
Plants of lower organisms were developed and a fol- 
lowing of the higher order of vegetation, but leave us 
in wonder as to how inorganic substance can take of 
its own self, inorganic matter, and form living vegeta- 
ble tissue. Then they say, there came a shower and 
filled the earth with germs of life. But from whence 
came those germs ? Millions of years then passed in 
which the geologists have become lost. Wandering 
amid the ocean's deep they, at last, are attracted by 
manifestations of animal life, of diversified form suited 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 5 I 

to their different spheres of existence, but all are of 
marine life and the inhabitants of the primitive sea. 
A little speck of simple albumen, according to Haeckel, 
the simplest form of animal life, composed of only one 
element, according to this theory is the distinct germ 
of man. Within this simple element then must be 
contained the energy, rolled up in successive layers 
as it were, that will take Nature over sixty million 
years to unroll, and pass it through its suc- 
cessive stages of clam, fish, serpent, whale, animal, 
monkey and then into the noble being possessed with 
all of the energy of mind — MAX. Yet, it is called by 
them a simple chemical combination and the simplest 
organism known. They say that it moves its finger 
like the processes of its own will, to obtain its food; 
and yet is only a simple atom of albumen. 

How unfortunate it would have been if this one 
germ of life substance had been destroyed. The 
world would have lost this great revelation of the 
origin of man, and we would have been deprived of 
the wisdom of a Darwin, a Haeckel and a Huxley. 
Mind and energy of life would have gone forever, as 
only one germ by their theory could have possessed 
the same life and energy to develop into man, and yet, 
they see no purpose in creation, or evidence of mind. 
But whence came the germs? 

They speak of no more showers of germs. But 
commence at once to supply the ''Missing Link," by 



152 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

weaving and spinning an imaginary connecting chain, 
to unite the molusk, fish and crab to the vegetative 
world. Millions of years again pass, and another 
mighty leap is made in creation. The earth is now 
teeming with life and animation. Animal creations 
of all forms and shapes, fitted to enjoy the vast fields 
and mountains of the progessive world, the elephant, 
bear, lion, tiger, cat, dog, mouse mole, bird, serpents, 
all here, but no man. The geologists again are lost. 
But some theory must be found to account for this 
great advent of another age, and so they set to 
work and, with the chain of their theory of evolution, 
drag them up through the long lost years, to their 
present plane of life. No more shower of germs to 
mark this advent of another age. 

But now a time has come. The earth begins to 
bud and blossom as the rose. The lapse of thous- 
ands of years again has passed. And with its 
steady roll of years, a preparation is made for another 
great event in our world's history. When the voice 
of Nature had said to the waters, "Stay though 
there," and to the mighty glacial mountains, "Thus 
far and no farther," then the geologist observes a 
new departure from the creation. 

And behold on the morn of the past glacial period 
appeared man, male and female, grand, noble, and fully 
developed to our present state. Bodies have been 
exhumed, which have lain in glacial shrouds for thir- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 53 

ty thousand years, (theologians give the time as be- 
ing 5,890 years,) that show a massive brain, indica- 
tive of a developed mind. In their breast burned a 
principle of devotion and love. In their mind was a 
looking" forward into the future. And in their soul 
glimmered an immortal hope. 

He sought to worship that which gave him ex- 
istence, and adore the Maker of Almighty laws, 
that, which none other of the creation had been in- 
spired to do. He had a sense of justification when 
doing the right, and of condemnation when doing 
the wrong. 

The geologists and scientists again make a halt. 
Where is the "Missing Link"? For with the then ex- 
isting life, we cannot account for this mighty step 
from the mammalian race to man. This they try 
to explain by saying, that the race preceding has 
become extinct, and man survives. But if their pet 
theory of, "The Survival of the Fittest" be true, we 
would ask, why was it, if only the "Fittest sur- 
vived" that the extinct race, or the "Missing Link," 
did not survive and the monkey die ? This would 
have preserved an unbroken chain from protoplasm 
to man. 

Science again gropes around in the dark to forge 
a link to connect the broken chain of the developed 
race, and theories are dug from evolution's field and 
wrought to fill the space. Yet they say man has 



I 54 THOUGHTS ON MAN ; 

lived thirty thousand years. Grand and noble at 
the beginning and noble still. The ape lived over 
thirty thousand years ago, and lives to-day. An 
ape then and an ape still. No intermediate state. 

The gar, the pike, the shark, the sturgeon, they 
claim have followed by regular descendence down the 
ages of over ten million of years and yet hold their 
identity. A shark then and a shark still. No 
change. But upon some of the selected ones Nature 
must have bestowed a wonderful amount of atten- 
tion, to have developed them into the varied forms 
of animal and marine life, as they are now found. 

And through all these changes, up to man, there 
was a "Survival of the Fittest" and a destruction of 
the lower orders. But behold scattered through the 
lower kingdoms of life are the various orders as they 
existed thousands of years ago. 

Was it easier to rain down the germs of life upon 
the earth, after being created by the action of an In- 
finite mind, and then superintend their development 
all down the eighty millions of years, than it was to 
create these species and give them the power of pro- 
pagating their kind, and create man from the ele- 
ments of the earth, breath into him his new nature, 
and, so make him ruler of the globe and king of cre- 
ation ? 

Why rake over the strata of the Mesozoic and 
Caenozoic ages of thirty thousand years past to find 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 55 

the "Missing Link" and then have to manufacture, 
improvvic, theorize and imagine to fill the vacant 
space, when the hand that once set the universe in 
motion, created the firmament and rained down the 
primitive germs, has the same power to create man 
in his dual form. 

It becomes evident that this great creative faculty 
originated beyond the nature of matter, and flowed 
direct from a fount of mind far superior to sense, on 
which matter itself was dependent. The process of 
world-making power was originated by Infinite mind, 
and the putting into action of the mind was the ul- 
timate force which controls the universal world and 
system of systems. All of this force of condensing 
and crust-forming, all this creation ot vegetation, 
marine life and mammals, was for, and to precede, 
the existence of man, that his appearance should 
crown the great event of this manifestation of power. 
All unite to say that it was for his comfort, pleasure, 
use and disposal. 

We have taken a glimpse of the process of time 
as we have hurriedly stepped from age to age. Man 
commenced to fulfill the great mission of life, as be- 
fore stated. Death entered into the world by sin, 
and so affected the life and condition of the race that 
death passed upon all. Thus death was inherited 
as much as the life that made man a living soul. 
No decree could be made to change the penalty 



156 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

brought on by disobedience, but all must pass on to 
the common end, and trust N to being rescued from 
t' e final result of the broken law, by One who has 
the power. For the gravitation of sin drags man 
down, and no pow^r within himself is able to raise 
him up, for this force, like gravitation, tends only 
downward. The force to raise man above the power 
of sin must come from a higher source, else how 
can he be lifted up ? Such a source was found in 
the person of Christ. But the law of death must 
be satisfied, for no law can be set aside until a com- 
pletion of the work which Justice demands of it, 
only by the authority of the Maker of said law, or 
its equal in power. And even this cannot be done, 
where it will interfere with Justice, without compro- 
mising with evil, and that could not be done by the 
Holy One of God. 

So man marches on from infancy to manhood, and 
year after year the mind becomes more expanded. 
As the matter of which the brain is composed is 
acted upon by the influences of surrounding life, it 
becomes more active, the frame expands, symmetry 
and figure is obtained, and now he represents the 
perfect creation of the race. He has obtained to 
the acme of life. Now the natural tendency is a 
decline. The vital forces lag, until, at last, "earth to 
earth and dust to dust," man returns physically, to 
mingle with earth and its material things. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 57 

It is impossible for the mind of man to reach 
back, by absolute history, and account for the man- 
ner of the creation of the first man, and reveal the 
nature of his primitive state. Like the babe, before it 
breaths the fresh air of eternal life, it is unconscious 
of the forces of the laws of development which are 
ever busy moulding its innocent and beautiful frame. 
It is not conscious of the hand of the law, which, by 
its force is placing in direct opposition, the particles 
that give strength to the bone, activity to the 
muscle, and sensation to the nerve, when charged 
with life's power. Its conception of life is like the 
dawning of the day. Gradually the light of knowl- 
edge breaks over the beautiful fields of childhood ; 
increasing in brightness as years roll on and the ca- 
pacity increases to receive, until the knowledge of 
life, like the brightness of a mid-day sun, almost daz- 
zels the mortal mind. 

So it was with man. Hidden from him were the 
forces that gathered the material which entered into 
the structure of his frame. Silent to him was the 
breath that vivified the mechanism that was to be a 
living man. As the life forces of the new made soul 
take up their abode in the new made home, united in 
life long bonds, he becomes conscious of his existence 
and beholds himself in his created form. He thinks, 
feels and moves. He has no power to look back to 
the time when he was not, but only conceives of the 



158 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

present; realizes that life is to him a fact. He looks 
around and beholds men like himself. He says : "I 
am, and if this be so, then there is one who fash- 
ioned me and gave me life." He comprehends a 
God ; but the history of his pre-created existence is 
only known to the Infinite Creator. He enters into 
the study of his surrounding world, and comprehend 
his relation to the Almighty Power, and conceives 
of the design of his Master's mind. He beholds 
life other than his own, and realizes that it is but 
brute life below his plane. The voice of God re- 
veals to him the nature of his life, and says : "Go 
forth, subdue, multiply and replenish the earth." So 
he goes forth, an instrument in the hand of a creative 
law, to cover the globe with intelligent human beings 
to be gathered in tribes and nations of every tongue. 
God started the wheel of creative law rolling, and 
until He lays His hand upon the belt of Time and 
says, "Stand thou still," the same immutable forces 
will perform their unalterable results, the creating of 
human life. 

Now the life of man existing in its positive and 
negative forms, in the person of man and woman, is 
living and working out the laws of creative force, that 
by a special act of the Divine mind, was spoken into 
existence. Existing in the nature of woman are the 
elements, which when acted upon by the creative 
power in man, spring forth into a multiplication of 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 59 

like entities, and new beings come into existence and 
live entirely independent of the mother and father 
element, spiritual and physical, which was at first 
instrumental in their creation. These new beings 
then multiply in their compound forms, transmitting 
to each offspring the sams power, without lessening 
the creative power that characterized the first cre- 
ated man. This is the work of creative force, and 
not a special act of God, as was man when he first 
breathed the breath that constituted him a living 
human soul. Why should we doubt this power 
when we see one kernel of grain planted and the re- 
sult the perfect development of one hundred kernels, 
identical in nature with the one planted, containing 
all the powers and faculties which characterized the 
parent seed, and each able, as the one before, to 
vitalize into life one hundred more kernels ? Man, 
though ignorant of the special manner and work of 
his creation, was not ignorant of his Creator, for, 
simultaneous with his life, was the knowledge con- 
veyed, There were inherent powers given to his 
being. But the vast field that lay before him of 
laws governing his physical state, of the laboratory 
of Nature's treasures, and the hidden book of art, 
were closed against him. These were to be opened 
by the labors of his hand and the inventions of his 
mind. He was to forge the keys to unlock the 
doors of these secret chambers, and then to enjoy 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 60 

the feast of soul while drinking in the bounties of 
the goodness of the Divine mind. There has been 
but one man since the creation of Adam which was 
the work of the special act of God, and that was 
when the second Adam — Christ, lived upon this 
earth. There existed in the Nature of the Virgin 
Mary, the mother of Christ, the elements of human 
structure, as in others of perfect form, which -is veri- 
fied by the word of the Scriplures where they say: 
"The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's 
head." 

Existing in this was all that was necessary to 
make the Son of Man — the very Christ — bone of 
our bone and flesh of our flesh, thus consisting ot 
human nature and the divinity of God. Now, only 
one thing is necessary that the vivifying of the 
human cells of the person of Mary take place, the 
work of multiplication of tissue go on, and the pro- 
cess of placing the atoms that build a mortal frame 
proceed. It required a force of creative power. 
That force was the same as the one that gave life to 
the first Adam. The same force acted upon the 
primitive cells, then latent in the Virgin Mary, and 
the breath of spiritual life, vivifying their structure, 
they spring forth into life, untouched by mortal hand, 
unseen by mortal eye, and unknown to her, only by 
the influence of the spirit and power of the Divine. 
She was pure, holy and undefiled. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. l6l 

Here Christ inherited the nature of man, and, in 
all the purity and holiness of His being, possessed the 
essence and attributes of God. Thus He became 
flesh and dwelt among men. The same power that 
took inanimate matter, fashioned and made the first 
frame and created life in man, also started the germ 
of physical life that formed the temple of God, even 
Christ Jesus. But different from the first Adam, 
who was fashion in his full form and stature, a perfect 
living man, even from the first, not passing up the 
grade of infantile life, for infancy suggests a mother 
and an infant's care. 

The question of the land of the birth of primitive 
man has long engaged the mind of scholars and 
Bible students. The question is not easily answered. 
But there is evidence of its location in Asia. The 
library lately recovered of the Assyrian Kings, gives 
an account of the deluge, and of the city of Babylon, 
and gives us, on the King's seal, characters represent- 
ing the cherubim guarding the Garden of Eden, and 
the names of the earliest patriarchs of the Bible. 
Here the name of the ancient city, Babylon, when 
interpreted, means the gate of God, and, its location 
on the river Euphrates corresponds with the descrip- 
tion given of Eden of old, before the deluge. The 
history, as given on these stone and clay tablets, pre- 
served for ages, gives it the name of the ancient 
Eden, where man was formed in his first and unfallen 
1 1 



1 62 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

estate. Here was the first departure from a life of 
justification and happiness, where man was driven 
from his first estate. To know God was wisdom. 
And, I cannot think but what man was then higher 
in glory and knowledge than at any subsequent 
period of his existence. As they increased in num- 
bers the weaker tribes were driven into the borders 
of other lands to seek a home and sustenance, and 
as a natural result they spread to the north and 
east, and to the north and west, invading on the 
north-east the lands of northern Asia. And as time 
passed and wars arose among the tribes, on account 
of a sinful and degraded heart, they drove the 
weaker farther to the north and east, until they 
crossed the Behring straits in their primitive boats, 
then crossing Alaska into North America, thence 
to South America. On the other hand tribes emi- 
grated north and west into Europe, and from thence 
the weaker and less able to survive the ordeals of 
war and its results, were driven into Africa. Dur- 
ing this time, perhaps thirty thousand years, lands 
have fallen below the ocean's bosom, while new ones 
have risen by volcanic upheavals, changing materially 
the geography of our world. But nations have risen 
and fallen. The strongest survived, but in none is 
there anything so remarkable as the preservation of 
the old stock of Asia, the descendants of Abraham. 
The result of these wars was emigration, and the 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH 1 63 

weaker nations were driven farther and farther from 
the place of native man. This banishment from 
that which was holy sent them rapidly down a 
moral decline into barbarism and savagery. After 
this dispersion of the human race came the chaotic 
darkness of the moral state of man, and, only by the 
dim eye of prophesy and a few of God's chosen 
ones, was a knowledge of the ancient and primitive 
man preserved. 

That there was a time when a union of all races 
existed none can reasonably deny, but of this time 
and condition no profane or political history gives us 
information. Thousands of years lie outside the ra- 
dius of historical vision and would be left blank were 
it not for sacred history coming down, not by Egyp- 
tian record, but, by the inhabitants of Judea. By 
the legend and mythical history of the Aryan races. 
Previous to the founding of the Chinese Empire, B. 
C. 2800 years, and Egyptian 2700, of India, Chal- 
dea, Judea, Greece and Rome, there was history, 
but, owing to the unorganized plan of record, it was 
only retained by legendary and tales from father to 
son, which were portrayed in vivid colors, that they 
might take stronger hold upon the memory. 

Take the history of all nations, religious, recorded 
profane, legend and mythical, and in all you will find 
the great lines of truth pointing toward the origin 
of man as one creation. The hub from which all 



164 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

nations spring, and around which clusters all human 
life. The Sanscrit of India, which is preserved until 
this day, existed hundreds of years before it was 
condensed, (which was 1200 years B. C), into twelve 
thousand volumes. This is so filled with mythical 
tales and fanciful ideas that one can scarcely sift the 
facts from fancy. So also is the Greek and Chinese 
literature. But one thing can be observed, that is, 
that all point back with unerring aim to events re- 
corded in Jewish history, which had been preserved 
by father and son on account of their religious belief 
and chosen relation to God, and handed down until 
it was penned by inspired men, from one thousand 
five hundred to two thousand years B. C. These 
records should be given much credit on account of 
coming from a nation far above all other nations in 
morality, truth, charity and equality of men. They 
are the only record of the foundation of the world 
and origin and dispersal of the races of men ; and, 
bearing witness to this record are the legends and 
mythical tales from all the lower tribes and nations 
of the earth. 

The pre-historic races had fallen long before the 
separation of tribes, and long before the Egyptian 
nation was founded were the dark ages of man's ex- 
istence, of which no history can tell, only by the 
faint and fading impressions of mind upon mind 
through the transit of races. This does not suit 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 65 

the ideas of evolutionists, but rather tends to weak- 
en their argument of the origin and growth of the 
human race. 

Scattered throughout the Territory of Arizona 
were recently found the remains of ancient cities ap- 
parently destroyed by volcanic eiuption. There are 
about nineteen of them. One situated in the valley 
of the Salt river has been largely excavated, until, at 
the present time, about twenty-two blocks of the city 
are unearthed. With the remains of the city are 
found utensils of earthen and stone ware, and skele- 
tons of the ancient race. The largest of these cities 
is supposed to have contained about ten thousand 
inhabitants, and was surrounded by farms, showing 
that the were an agricultural people. Remains of 
aqueducts are found that were used to irrigate their 
land. One of these aqueducts tunneled a mountain, 
and is said to have been eighty miles in length. The 
houses were built of stone, but many of the inhabi- 
tants lived in caves and clefts in the rocks. 

The Zuni Indians now occupy the sites of these 
ancient cities, and, they being very reserved in their 
ways, it has not been easy to obtain any history of 
the ancient race that preceded them. But, as they 
have become more reconciled to civil life, they have 
given accounts, as handed down to them, of the peo- 
ple who inhabited these mysterious, once hidden but 
now visible, remains. They give their name as the 



1 66 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

Taltic tribe, long extinct, and, as they have it in their 
traditions, were descendants from the people of Asia. 
They were a people possessed of a good degree of 
civilization, although living in the Stone Age. Their 
instruments, used in cutting the tunnel through the 
mountains were made of stone, as were also their im- 
plements of war. Their history, as handed down by 
tradition to their successors, is, that the time of the 
existence and works of this people was over four 
thousand years ago, and by many it is believed to 
have been prior to the history of the Egyptian race, 
from whom started the history of race descent and 
nations. 

This would indicate to us the division of tribes 
and the dissemination of people long before our his- 
tory of races commenced ; and, that not until the race 
of man had arisen to a state of knowledge, which had 
been lost in the dark ages into which man was plung- 
ed by the fall of Adam, was history recorded to tell 
the tale of the struggles, rise and fall, of kingdoms 
and powers. 

If those traditions are true, and there seems to be 
much to give them weight and credit, they would 
show the early settlement of this continent by the 
descendants of one common and first parent, and, as 
I have before stated, the stronger tribes were able to 
choose the most desirable countries, and the weaker 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 67 

were driven into the rugged and uncongenial portions 
of the earth. 

All races undoubtedly originated from one com- 
mon basis of human life, the first pair. We can see 
in the vegetative system an analogy of the effect of 
a climatic change upon the human race. Take the 
palm tree of the tropics and plant it within the soil 
of our country, and bring it under the influence and 
environment of the temperate clime and its appear- 
ance soon changes. The color of its foliage has a 
different cast, its branches are less wide, its fruit be- 
comes inferior, and, if it finds within itself the ability 
to adapt its life to its changed environments, it will 
develop, although in a very imperfect manner, into a 
palm tree still. So with man. Take him from his 
natural clime and place him on the extreme borders 
of the earth, under the varied influences of the trop- 
ics, or the cold and icy regions of the Polar seas, and 
we have just what we would expect. The change 
of environment has changed the form, figure and col- 
or of the man, the same as it would of the plant. 
The greater adaptability of man to his environments 
enables him to be placed upon the extreme corners 
of our globe, and live. It is due to the greater flex- 
ibility of his nature. 

He may be degenerated in form, he may have 
changed his color by the influences of his surroundings, 
he may have been changed hi his habits and spiritual 



1 68 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

nature, but he is still man. The environments have 
made their marks upon the race, but man has been 
able, by the flexibility of his nature, to adapt him- 
self to his surroundings and live, a man, the same as 
at first in nature, but dwarfed and modified in his 
attributes and spiritual entity. But, take him, like 
the plant, and bring him under the same influences 
as those in which he was created, physically and 
spiritually, (for man is a dual being,) and he will 
again grow into the stature of a perfect man, because 
he has the principle of human life within himself. 
Not the life of a horse, a dog or a monkey, but the 
life and spirit of man. Something to develop in the 
line of the human race. 

And, so is found clustering around the ancient city 
of God, and its borders, the great advantages of wis- 
dom and knowledge; while at the extreme north 
and in the tropical countries of the south, you find 
the least civilization among the people, for, in their 
banishment they ost their advantages for develop- 
ment in civil life, but the germ of moral truth, and 
conception of right in some measure, with an obliga- 
tion to a higher being ever remained, to identify the 
highest and most noble of all beings created, and 
the only beings in all the earth which had, or ever 
will have, a conception of truth and right. Man. by 
his transgression, fell, even below the brute creation. 
Because man, having a reasoning faculty, could 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 69 

devise means of debasing his own nature. Thus 
came the barbarism and savagery of the early ages. 

This was the condition of man when the balances 
were turned, and he commenced to be raised up. 
God, in His mercy, did not entirely destroy, nor desert 
His people. There were a few to whom He was re- 
vealed, and they became teachers in the land. How 
natural it was, that where man first fell, that there 
he should be first lifted up. So the redemption of 
man first came among those who survived the fall, 
and near the place of the fatal transgression. And, 
"as in Adam all died, so in Christ were all made 
alive," and from this point the truth commenced to 
spread. The truth of a better, higher and more 
noble life. Here commenced to work a power which 
was able to do battle with sin, a power which was able 
to suppress the terrible ravages of war, and to cultivate 
peace and harmony among nations. Here the gos- 
pel was first preached for the salvation of the world, 
and the first missionaries were sent out to proclaim 
the glad tidings to the wanderers of the darkened, 
earth, tell them of the redemption of the lost 
and of the hope of a fairer Eden above. 

Now, for over eighteen hundred years, the people 
have been searching the lands of the north, and of 
the south, plowing the rolling billows of the great 
deep in search of the islands of the sea, to which sin- 
ful man has fled, as if perchance to find the fugitives 



170 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

who have fled from the strong arm of other nations r 
and sought refuge in the remotest corners of the 
earth. As these. tidings are spread the spirit of war 
ceases, and the mind, darkened by a thousand cen- 
turies of degradation, springs forth, as it were, like a 
seed, into strength before the light and warmth of 
truth, until now, scarcely an island in the midst of 
the mighty seas is left without this truth, which in 
time will make their inhabitants a people similar 
to our own people. 

To show that there is a possibility of a pre-historic 
civilization, and that the arts were practiced, even as 
now, we would refer to the traditions of the ancient 
Egyptian people, mentioned by Plato. He tells us 
of the islands and of the divisions of lands and seas, 
caused by the mighty convulsive eruptions of ourglobe r 
of the habitation of countries far across the wide 
stretch of the great and surging waters, which had 
then ceased to be disturbed by navigation. Of the 
crafts of trade which bore these burdens of human 
life from shore to shore. The people who had at 
one time inhabited these strange countries but had 
retrograded to the then uncivilized state, was no 
myth, and the lingering impression of some event,, 
which had been thoroughly impressed upon the mind 
of this ancient race, had been re-printed and impress- 
ed upon the minds of their posterity, until, when 
it came to the most ancient races known ia 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. \*]l 

history, it seemed but a legend and a fairy tale. 
Their history, if there was any, had long since faded. 
Nothing but the marks of mighty upheavals re 
mained as witnesses of this great change. 

Gradually the moral darkness is disappearing, and 
the heathen nations are being restored, more and 
more, like unto the primitive state ot man. Wisdom 
and knowledge are following the spreading of the truth 
until the savage will take no pleasure in the torture 
of his victim and the cannibal revolt at the sight of 
human flesh. Fast the Christian tidal wave is 
sweeping over the entire world, and nations are melt- 
ing, as it were, before those words of truth. Man is 
finding his lost estate, and, by labor of love, by 
following the light of the star of Christian truth, will 
once more stand in an Eden, more beautiful and 
glorious than the one from which primitive man was 
driven. The glories of this earth, which he might 
have enjoyed, are forever barred from him by the in- 
tervention of sin. 

But, how are the creatures below the plane of 
man? They have never sinned, and never have 
fallen. Having no knowledge of right and wrong they 
could not sin. They are the same yesterday, to-day 
and forever. They cannot advance in wisdom nor 
power. They are governed by the impulses of their 
nature. Only the emotion and sensation given in 
their first creation, called instinct, born in their nature 



I 72 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

to compensate for lack of knowledge, and their ina- 
bility to acquire it, that they might preserve their 
species and adapt themselves to their environments. 
They are led by these intuitive forces which were in- 
tended to control their being and they inevitably 
obey these impressions, and, like the needle to the 
pole, in whatever position they may be thrown, when 
allowed their freedom, will settle invariably to the 
fixed instinctive forces. 

Not so with man. He is not so strongly en- 
dowed with instinct, for a stronger power was given 
him; the power of reason and exercise of choice. 
Co-extensive with these was the power of moral 
sensibility, without which man would not be man. 
In conjunction with this is his will power, which en- 
ables man to lift himself up, or to debase himself 
even below the plane of the brute. By reason of his 
higher state of being comes his responsibility, and we 
see man in the role of some of our infidel lights 
pleading the rights given to the brute creation — of 
no responsibility; even robbing a poor brute of its 
only protection from its ignorance and imperfection, 
while they glory in the power of man, the highest 
organism of earth. With one breath they claim the 
power of heaven, and with the other the plead the 
ignorance of the brute. If man had not the power 
then indeed would he be free, but as he has, and 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRiJTH. I 73 

claims the power, so shall he be held accountable for 
the exercise of it. 

I think we are all agreed that man is the only 
creature possessing moral conception; and this higher 
endowment only confirms the principle of a grander 
and nobler power, which, to be able to enjoy, must be 
possessed by the power of choice. This power of 
knowing truth from error, right from wrong, must have 
existed from the first entrance of man into the world, 
and, if this be true, it must have been a special gift 
to man, above all other creatures, for no evidence of 
this power is exhibited in any lower order of beings. 
With this faculty necessarily comes the power of 
choice, which is exercised by the will. Now, by the 
exercise of the will, from choice comes the responsi- 
bility, for as the choice is, so will be the result. 

The principles of truth were created in man and 
were co-extensive with his life and soul. These 
were principles which were not first learned, but, 
were as free a gift as the life he breathed, or the soul 
he enjoyed. The creatures below man were created 
with instinct, intuitive powers, or impulses, which 
were given them simultaneous with their necessities, 
to lead them in their plane of existence, to preserve 
their being, and to carry out the plan of the Divine 
mind. 

In them instinct is more acute than in man. These 
impulses impel the birds to gather twigs and grasses 



I 74 THOUGHTS ON MAN ; 

for their nests, watch over the labors of their love, and 
care for their young. They do not reason, that if 
they leave their young for a day they will perish, but 
they are faithful to the instinct of their spirit. And, 
as the needle is drawn to the magnet, so is the bird 
and beast subservient to the power of the instinct gov- 
erning their being. 

Man possesses but a slight degree of this power, 
therefore he becomes less capable of living and 
maintaining his existence by his physical powers alone 
but, as in the Supreme mind, all things are cared for, 
and the whole creation fitly framed together, so man 
was given, in the place of animal powers, so acute in 
the brute, a power of mind to grasp the truth, to 
search the laws of Nature and appropriate their 
strength to compensate for his weakness. Thus 
through the power of the mind he becomes strong 
Partaking of the nature of the Supreme Being, he must 
have some knowledge of the Supreme, and this knowl- 
edge came with the gift of life, and power to conceive 
truth. Then, by the power of will, man fell, and be- 
came a creature, not only subject to the powers, but 
a subject of the powers of sin, and the tendency 
ever after was to evil. Degradation came as surely 
as the fall, and down, down the plain of moral being 
reaping the penalty of the broken law, and eating on 
every hand, the fruits of disobedience, until, after 
thousands of years, the earth had become populated 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH I 75 

with a people that knew not God. From the icy 
regions of the north, and beyond the tropics of the 
south, the earth opened her bosom to fallen human- 
ity to give them life. Faded from the mind, was the 
full conception of the true God, and in their blindness 
they were searching and groping in superstition for a 
light, which, in the depths ot^ their soul, they knew 
had been removed from them; and in their eager- 
ness, they were bowing down to gods of flesh, wood 
and stone. With their loss of knowledge they did 
not lose their conception of a Supreme Being; for no 
race of people has been found that did not have, in 
some degree, an idea of a Supreme Being. 

Ah, this power has ever remained, like the in- 
stinct of the beast, lingering in the mind of man, and, 
although many times an unwilling guest it remains 
to tell him of one mightier than he. There were a 
few who retained a true conception of a God and 
through these few is coming the restoration of fallen 
man. History, if it ever existed in record, had 
become extinct and left man with no power to travel 
back over the dark ages of the past. All the light 
we can see glimmering through this dark vale of 
human mystery, is the revelation given by the chosen 
ones of the Almighty, in His word to man. 

Now, the work of restoration is commenced by re- 
demption, justification, adoption and glorification of 
man. By this means, the race will be restored to a 



176 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

higher plane, and man, in spiritual vision, may know 
more of his Creator, as he reads of His powers in the 
laws of Nature, and observes the power of Almighty 
mind in their control and subjugation. But the ef- 
fect of the fall of Adam will ever remain stamped up- 
on man throughout his state of mortal existence. 

Professor Drummond, in his work entitled, " Nat- 
ural Law in the Spiritual World," in speaking of the 
bio-genesis of man, claims that the christian is the 
possessor of a life which the unbeliever is not. That 
the new element of life must first enter into man, is 
apparent to all Bible readers. But Prof. Drummond 
claims that the Life Eternal, spoken of by the Mas- 
ter, was as much different than the former life of man 
as the life of the plant is different from animal life. 
If Prof. Drummond is correct, then all who knew 
not Christ, in the heathen lands have been forever 
lost. And, he who lived outside the radius of the 
preached word, and, who had not been under the 
teaching of the truth of the Master, however desir- 
ous he might have been of doing right, must be lost, 
because he has not the life that comes of belief and 
repentance. He knew not on whom to believe, and 
could not receive the gift of the new germ which 
would follow. 

Consequently many of our exemplary lives and 
conscientious souls, with the ignorant and down 
trodden races of man, have no chance of life or re- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 77 

demption in Christ. I cannot agree with Prot. Drum- 
mond in this. It cannot be otherwise than that all 
men are endowed with the same life in the beginning, 
that is, the same in kind, and, that man will be 
eternally conscious is also evident, if we believe God's 
book. Eternal damnation, everlasting punishment, 
everlasting torment, surely means a consciousness of 
suffering, because if there was torment there must 
be consciousness of the evil which torments. This 
is in one sense eternal life, but it is a life of eternal 
misery. 

While the christian has eternal life, in a life of 
eternal joy, the primary condition of each individual 
was the same; the change was brought about by 
the choice of the individual ; this choice consisted 
of the environing influences which surround man, 
and which must be divided into two classes, good and 
evil. The spirit of Christ is the great environing influ- 
ence of the christian^and the graces which follow are 
faith, love, etc. The great environing influence ot 
the ungodly man is the evil spirit, following which is 
the influence of selfishness and hate. 

If a plant was placed in darkness it would lose its 
beauty, and suffer and die, the substance would never- 
theless remain, If another of same nature was 
placed in the light, with food and moisture, it would 
retain its beauty and live and develop. Those condi- 
tions are environments. But man chooses his environ- 
12 



178 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

ments and therefore subjects himself to the penalty 
of the same. Where it is said in the Word (quoted 
by Drumrnond) "Except a man be born of water and 
of the Spirit he cannot, etc.," it must be interpreted 
to mean, the application of these. The application 
of the Spirit is that power which exerts that environ- 
ing influence which ends in eternal happiness. This is 
as much being "born again," as the application of water 
is being "born of water," and therefore, is a satisfactory 
explanation. Taking this explanation, it would offer 
hope to the justly conscientious man, who has lived 
according to the light of the knowledge of truth 
thrown to him in his associations and surroundings 
in life. These would be environing influences. The 
will makes the choice, and the soul must abide the 
agency of the transaction. To those who have dealt 
justly, loved mercy, and lived according to their best 
knowledge of God, Christ is their redeemer, I 
firmly believe, although they never heard His name 
upon the lips of man. 

Speaking of a natural birth, Prof. Drumrnond does 
not seem to consider the fact that it is only a change 
of environing influences and adaptation to the same, 
and that life had existed long before birth. So also 
the new birth is an adaptation to the new environ- 
ment and development, and an increase of the spiritual 
life of man is the result. The Spirit then is that 
power or substance which, coming in contact, spirit- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 79 

ually, with the human soul, revives it from its fallen 
nature and sets in motion the smothered sparks of 
christian love. On the other hand the evil spirit 
stimulates man's fallen nature, causing it to reap the 
reward of transgression, which is eternal misery, 
and that is of as long duration as eternal life 
Therefore, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve,' 
which is, choose ye this day the influences to which 
ye will be subject, for the influence represents the 
attributes of the being from whence they come. 



DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF MAN. 



CHAPTER VI. 



J|[B\EATH is only the opposite of life. Therefore, 

(^r^ to study death we will first turn again to life 

S M) and consider, for a short time, its power and 

V? function. Although we have spoken of it 
incidentally, as we have passed along, yet it 
remains to be considered in connection with death. 

Of this great and everlasting change we regret to 
speak, because it conveys to our mind the end of all 
things to us, unless we have a hope of a future life. 
In such a case we only shudder at the thought of the 
agony of body, common to all living things, and shrink 
from it with the instinct of the animal, which strives 
to preserve the life given it by its Creator. 

In contemplating death we have only to look 
around us and observe on every hand the changing 
of matter. Matter giving up its form of organization 
long retained, to fulfill some other purpose, and, un- 
dergoing transformation,' presenting ; different char- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I SI 

acters, shapes and faculties according as the forces 
have taken hold of the atoms and infused them with 
. power, life and animation. 

It would seem to us that matter is the medium 
through which life is manifest. As an engine stand- 
ing upon the track trembling throughout its massive 
structure, waiting for an opportunity to move its 
great arm of power. The engine is but the servant 
to the force generated within its mighty chest. The 
force was latent before the coal was ignited in its 
fire box. Not but what it existed, stored up in the 
elements of water and coal, but it required another 
force, a force of higher power, to utilize and set in 
motion the elements. That force was mind. The 
same force prepared the matter for this special pur- 
pose, moulded the massive iron work according to 
certain plans and principles, observing certain 
laws of construction. There was an object in it, 
construction 

Now it moves. It springs like a mighty thing of 
life, from rail to rail, and speeds on its journey of 
thousands of miles. Ever and anon it shrieks aloud 
with its wild notes until the very hills vibrate with 
the reverberation of its sound. See it stops, re- 
verses its motion and backward flies with its 
lightning speed. 

Is there not mind in the movement of that matter? 
Glance into the cab and you see the frail hand of 



I 82 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

man manipulating the lever of power, and you ask 
why he does thus and so, and he answers that he is 
master of its mighty machinery. You say, "can you 
run when and where you please ?" His answer is 
"No." He shows you his schedule of time and ex- 
plains how he is governed by laws and systems, that 
all may have order and harmony and preserve its ex- 
istence, otherwise natural results would cause a des- 
truction of the perishable material. Where now is 
the force generated by the expansion of matter ? It 
has not been obliterated, but lives in the latent state 
perhaps, ready again to be sent on its way of conser- 
vation. 

Where is the mind of man that formed this iron 
horse, or the invisible, immortal, ever-existing entity 
that planned and framed the object, of this great 
machine ? We look again, and the structure is fallen 
to the ground. Its massive chest no more responds 
to the force of steam. Its fire box consumes no 
more coal and its mighty arm can no more revolve 
the ponderous drive wheels, but lays lifeless and dead. 
The cab is vacant. No hand works the lever of 
power. The driver has no use for the, now useless, 
metal and clay, and has taken his departure to 
an other field of usefulness. 

There, is death, literal death. A separation of 
parts, but force and matter yet exist, though separ- 
ated from their former state. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 1 83 

Force existed when matter was created, else how 
could matter be organized into its present forms and 
figures. Rather than, as some claim, that mat- 
ter is the creator of force. I hold that matter was 
created as a medium through which force is to move, 
that mortal eye may discern, in tangible things, its 
power. 

If anything ever existed it was force in its different 
forms, and, I believe the evolution of forces from 
matter and advancing on to a higher state, making 
mind, is as false as the evolutionary theory of man. 
So it is in the final death of mortal man. Like 
the engine, he is a machine of power. Within him 
exists the different forces of which he is combined 
and matter is the medium through which it acts. 
He lives by the force of vitality. He moves by the 
force of life and animation. His objects and inten- 
tions are the force of mind instituted by the force of 
the soul. When he dies there is a separation of the 
parts, not obliteration. Like the man in the cab, 
when matter has done its work, vitality has declined, 
and physical force has been obstructed, a higher field 
demands the service of its master, and he leaves the 
lifeless, powerless thing for greater fields of useful- 
ness. To take charge of a more complete and glori- 
ous structure according; to his faithfulness in his 
lower charge on earth. 



'fc> 



$=> 



Man, unlike the other forms of life, is subject to 



1 84 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

two deaths. One the death to which all animal life 
is subject, viz : a separation of life force from matter. 
The other a separation of the soul from the presence, 
control and blessing of the Father of all good. 

The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul 
would return again to the body in the last day, and 
resurrect it ; that it would again become possessed of 
its vital forces and inhabit the. earth as of old. Live, 
move, know and be known, and for this reason they 
preserved the bodies of their friends and embalmed 
them that they might be retained in their bodily form 
to receive again their departed spirits on the resurrec- 
tion day. They also interred with them their wearing 
apparel, jewelry and various other articles which they 
were accustomed to wear. Bodies are being found 
to-day, which have lain embalmed in Egyptian 
tombs for nearly three thousand years, with their gold 
necklaces and bracelets, rings and diamonds, waiting 
the changing of the petrified bodies to forms of life, 
and, as the Indians believe, will walk the streets and 
roam over the great hunting grounds of the other 
world. 

It is often said, by men of the pulpit, that death 
struggles tell of the condition of the heart. But 
physical distortions, or death struggles as they are 
called, are no evidence of an unrepentant heart. 

There is an explosive action of the forces of life 
within the ganglionic centers of the nervous system. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRJTH. I 85 

A force which must be expended, at the ebbing of 
the last flickering flames of life exerted upon the 
muscles of the various parts of the body causes the 
varied forms and expressions witnessed upon the 
face and forms of the dead, but the state of mind may 
modify the expression through its two fold power of 
hope and fear. 

All, possessed of natural feeling, fear death, for 
it is the fatal ending of life, and, were it to come 
suddenly upon us, there are none, that are rational 
who would not straggle for life. The evidence of 
a christian heart is the hope which quiets the fear 
of a hopeless future state and melts away, like frost 
before the summer sun, the fear of the dark un- 
known, which is soon to close around them. Hope 
chases away the darkness of the future and often 
lights up the countenance of the dying form until 
it is all aglow with a spirituality that the tongue 
or pen of man cannot discribe. 

While fear, not of death, simply, but of a hope- 
less future, will make the death bed seem as black 
as Egyptian night and paint upon the face ex- 
pressions of a troubled and restless soul going, he 
knows not where. 

This change must come, however much man may 
strive to evade it. All flesh must eventually return 
to the common elements of the material world. 

The thought of death casts a shadow over the 



I 86 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

mind when it is contemplated, and, no matter how 
reckless the life, or how fearless the heart, all men, 
when brought face to face with death, shudder and 
quake at the thoughts of the change, and would fain 
put it aside, or argue their mind into an unbelief of a 
hereafter, which, consciousness tells them, must be. 
The only hope for mortal man is the chance of a fu- 
ture life. Take this away, and, of all creatues, man 
is the most miserable. He would then live in a state 
of a consciousness of obliteration and extinction. 
Yet, this would not seem more terrible than the 
thought of living in eternal misery, continually con- 
scious of the evil done in the years gone by. 

The testimony of those who have lived in unbelief, 
and fought the idea of a future life, when brought to 
the brink of eternity, and death, with its icy chill was 
creeping o'er their frame, is such as tells the tale of 
the struggle for hope. One says, "It is a fearful 
thing to leap into the dark unknown." Another 
cries, " Oh, for the faith of my mother;" and again, 
"The gulf of eternal woe is waiting to receive me." 
But with him who has wisely considered all, rests 
with a hope and belief that all is well, there is no fear 
of a future, although he may struggle for life. 

Death may vary in its nature, as we shall present- 
ly see. "It was appointed unto man once to die, 
and after death, the judgment." This is the literal 
or physical, death. "That he which converteth a 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH I 87 

sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul 
from death." This is the spiritual, or second death. 
Now, when we mention death, the conclusion is, we 
mean obliteration, or the entire wiping out of the 
parts and particles of which we are composed, but, 
not so. Anything that is created cannot be en- 
tirely obliterated.. There may be, and is, a breaking 
up of the atoms and parts of every organize being 
and substance into gases and salts. 

The body of man, as well as other creations, un- 
dergoes a change. The forces which had been at 
work, perhaps for seventy years, removing the crumb- 
ling tissues from the human frame, and, so nicely ad- 
justing the atoms here and there, to preserve the 
expression and figure of former time, have been called 
away. The power which had adjusted and adapted 
the forces to a purpose, seems to be conscious of the 
fact that the departure of the inmates of its home, is 
soon to occur, and no farther demand will be requir- 
ed for its guardian power. 

The mind of man can even comprehend the flag- 
ging and flickering fires of the human frame, and real- 
ize that the vital forces are nearing the last sands 
of Time, and, that the immortal principles are about 
to leave the body forever, while the organic substance 
will be wafted away on the breezes of heaven, or be 
combined with the elements of earth, to form new 
combinations, and other organic structures. Each 



I 88 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

has fulfilled its mission in its life work, and has re- 
turned to its original state. 

Death, then, is a separation of parts, a breaking up 
of the organic forces, and the changing of the chemi- 
cal combinations. Thus, man dies. There is a sep- 
aration of the life from the body, and a suspension of 
the organic forces. The salts composing the body 
return to their original state, among the elements of 
the earth, and the gases take wings and fly away to 
mingle with the elements floating in space. • Take the 
lime, soda and magnesia, composing the bony struct- 
ures, and they are identical with those in their prim- 
itive state. The gases, oxygen, hydrogen and nitro- 
gen, are identical with the gases which compose the 
air we breathe. 

What, then, is the difference between the living 
body and the dead, before decomposition has 
fastened its seal upon its structure? It is much like 
the difference between a ball set in motion and .one 
in a quiescent state. It is material, less its force. 
It has surrendered up the energy which it once con- 
tained ; not because matter ceased to evolve force, 
but because force ceased to move matter. It is all 
in accordance with the plan, that force must first 
move matter before matter can evolve force. When 
we consider the different conditions which the par- 
ticles of the body occupy after death, our mind will re- 
volt at the old theory of the restoration of the natural 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 89 

body. Man is subject to all the modes of death 
which the mind can imagine. The ocean may re- 
ceive his form in its mighty depths ; it is then utilized 
as food for the fishes and other living things of the 
deep, and entering into the composition of their 
bodies becomes flesh of their flesh and bone of their 
bone. Then, along the coast of the fisheries, scores 
of this living flesh is taken and hurried to the va- 
rious parts of the earth, and a portion enters again 
into the food of the human race. Some are yet 
sporting in the forms of animate nature in the bosom 
of the deep. Then transmitted by the preying upon 
the life of each other, until, in one thousand years 
from now, it would be divided in parts as numerous 
as the sands of the sea. Some particles occupying 
the forms and entering into the material of the 
bodies of men, women and children ; while others are 
locked up in the deep recesses of the organic life of 
the trees, plants and grasses of the plains. The 
gases are floating in space, and, being inhaled, pass 
into the being of other races. So it is used and 
economized until it would be scattered through the 
material of a thousand bodies. 

A definition given by some scientists and writers, of 
life and death, is, that life is an adaptation to surround- 
ing environments, and that death is a falling out of cor- 
respondence with environment ; that as man loses 
the adaptation, by loss of hearing, feeling, sight and 



190 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

speech, he becomes dead, just in proportion to the 
loss of function he sustains. I object to this expla- 
nation on the ground that no environment is life it- 
self, but an adaptation of environment is only an evi- 
dence of life. If I see, it is because I have life to 
see. If I hear, it is because I have life to realize 
sound. The machinery through which my life acts 
and receives, is that which adapts me to the environ- 
ment. If I lose the sense of touch it is not because 
I am partially dead, but because my communication 
with the surrounding world is diminished and the, 
line of operation through which the forces of life 
move are impaired. If the machinery ceases to 
move and adapt itself to the surrounding environ- 
ments, it is because there has been a conflicting of 
the physical forces which enter into the material of 
my body, and, a destruction of the susceptibility of 
organized matter is the result. 

Those who believe life to be simply an evolution 
of force from matter and would reason all things, 
even the Almighty from matter, might take this 
theory for a basis. But for one who believes all 
things arose from a Creator, possessing a Di- 
vine mind, it would seem nearly, or quite, impossi- 
ble. When the nerves cease to register impression, 
the lungs close their cells to air, and the heart stills 
its throbbing, in my last moment I may express as 
strong a desire to live as ever, but the electrodes of 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 191 

life are corroded, the human structures have become 
insensible to the environments, and my body, by loss 
of the power of adaptation, retrogrades to the simple 
elements of the earth. Life has ceased to asssrt its 
power, by adaptation to environment, but the forces 
of life, the inherent powers of ' eternal entity exist. 
These forces, given by the power of God to the first 
man, and from him given to his posterity, as the 
multiplication of specie marched on, yet exist, to 
adapt another body of a more glorious nature to the 
environments of an immaterial world. 

It is also said by Prof. Dummond that the more 
complex the organism the longer the life. Here 
again it proves the falsity of his own theory, for the 
monera, the lowest order of animal life, which lived 
in the earliest age, the same in form and specie which 
throng the ocean bed, are yet living and adapting 
themselves to the surrounding environment, while the 
race called man's ancestors, the "Missing Link," be- 
tween the monkey and man, as they say, has be- 
come extinct. Then the only true solution to this 
problem is, that adaptation of environment is only 
a qualification given to organized bodies which have 
life, to perform the office for which they were 
destined, and accomplish in a general way, the 
results intended by the working of Divine Mind. 
Then man is surrounded with environments which in 
his higher state necessitates a choice to bring him in 



192 THOUGHTS^ON MAN; 

relation to them. That choice comes from a higher 
state of life than the physical life, which they would 
make us believe was the result of natural laws ex- 
isting in matter and adaptation of environment. 
When this adaptation to surrounding influence ceases 
and matter no longer acts as a medium between the 
spiritual and physical world, there will be a physical 
death, a separation of parts, a surrendering up of 
earthly environments to take on a higher form of life, 
and to be surrounded by other influences or environ- 
ments, which will be more perfectly adapted, and 
where the electrodes for the action of life will not 
be hindered. There can be no union with this higher 
association and environment entire, until a sepa- 
ration from the lower state is made, and no re- 
turn from the higher state possible. Therefore it 
is a place from whence no traveler returns, and 
where life never ceases; and environment will 
be perfect, for the associator, and the associates will 
be in a state of perfection. There will be the same 
forces of mind,, life and spirit that existed when un- 
der the influence of the physical forces of Nature, 
but, leaving the material of earth, they act as a basis 
for the identification of the higher state of organism, 
which will more nearly conform to the image of God, 
and into which matter cannot enter. 

Life adapts all organic bodies to their environ- 
ments. The fish to its watery home, the bird to the 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 93 

environing influence of the air, and the mammals to 
power and influence of the earth. Each specie of life 
forms such protoplasms as will develop its own pe- 
culiar form, for the reception of the environing influ- 
ences, and places them within the walls of its struct- 
ures. Fish life builds the structure of the fish, bird 
life, the structure of the bird, and human life, the 
structure of the man. Thus fulfilling the law of pur- 
pose in the life of each. There being a greater pur- 
pose in the life of man, he is, therefore, under more 
varied and greater environing influences than the be- 
ings of other forms of life. 

Man can choose his own environments, to a large 
extent, and thus build himself up against adverse 
powers. And, knowing and realizing his hereditary- 
influences, can so bring himself, by the power of his 
judgment and will, under such opposite influences as 
will mould and modify that tendency, which, in time 
become like a powerless member, withers away and 
leave but a rudiment of the inherited tendency of his 
life. Death, then, is not simply a loss of adaptation 
to environment ; but adaptation ceases because life 
ends its associations with matter, and departs. 

Where, then, is man? Has he returned to the 
natural elements, by the force of the natural laws, 
that form the equilibrium and hold the swaying pow- 
er over the whole world of creation? If so, then 
time will wipe away t he last vestige of the once cher- 
13 



194 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

ished forms, and their elements will mingle and com- 
mingle with the elements of the earth. Now wafted 
in the breezes, from pole to pole, or, obeying new 
forces and organic laws, enter into new chemical com- 
binations, until his originality is lost. 

But, where is man? Was he the mere lifeless 
clay, that a short time before lay upon the cooling 
board? If so, why did he not speak, or move his 
limbs? He is the same in form and looks, so far as 
the body is concerned. But, like the deserted man- 
sion, the inmates are gone, and therefore, there is no 
manifestation of life. You may bring to bear elec- 
tric force, and stimulate the muscles of the body to 
action, but the response is only to the will of the op- 
erator, and proves only more clearly, the lifelessness 
of the body. The spiritual entity of the man has 
left the body, but it is just as impossible for this to 
be obliterated as it is that matter should be annihil- 
ated, though governed by different laws and forces. 
It has simply lost its connection with this world by 
the death of the body, and returned to God who 
who gave it. The life force, whatever may be its 
character, still has its existence; though how and 
where, cannot now be clearly defined, to my mind. 
But this life force lives, and is indestructible, and 
each spirit is an entity of itself, and needs not to be 
recognized by any of our. natural senses, except as we 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. I 95 

recognize it through the machinery with which it 
works the body. 

The beast has a spirit, which is governed by the 
spiritual laws and forces peculiar to its own being.— 
Eccl., 3:19 to 21. Man is more than this. He has a 
moral sensibility, a sense of justice between man and 
man, a feeling of obligation to some one mightier than 
he. A something that gives him mind and judg- 
ment ; that condemns the wrong and approves the 
right, in nature and actions. 

This is the operation of the soul, that immortal 
principle of man, that something, that in connection 
with the spirit has a union with the body, and is the 
inhabitant of that tenement of clay. Death is a dis- 
solution of the body, and a separation of these three 
principles, of which the body is composed, and each 
returns the original elements from whence it came, 
there to await the final consumation of all things. 

From the soul originates thought, and the mind is 
the result of its action. It is the monarch of man. 
It controls his acts, directs his will, and, through it, 
his subjects, the spirit and body, move. Where, now, 
is man ? The shell is broken, and the bird has flown. 
The tenement is left, but its inmates are gone ; gone 
to the spirit land, there to vie with spiritual forces. 
Then, the deserted mansion, the tenement of clay de- 
posited in the mother earth, is not man, but is only 
the remains of the structure in which the man lived. 



196 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

The mosses creep o'er its tottering walls, and the 
structure crumbles and returns to the level of its 
surroundings. 

It matters not with regard to the time occupied 
in this change, whether in years, by decomposition, 
or, as Paul says: " In the twinkling of an eye, at the 
last day, when those who remain shall be caught up 
in the air and changed." For flesh and blood cannot 
inherit the kingdom of heaven. The material of 
which the body is composed is only borrowed from 
the earth, and, when we have no further use for it, 
then it must return to the earth from whence it 
came. The food we eat is converted into flesh, bone 
and blood, and, must sometime, return to its original 
state. 

In the Scripture we have this problem given: 
How, shall the dead be raised? — 1 Cor., 15:35. 
"But, some man will ask, How are the dead raised 
up?" Paul answers this question as follows: " Thou 
fool! That which thou soweth is not quickened ex- 
cept it die." Again, he asserts, that: u Each seed 
has its own body." That is, each soul has its own 
personality, and separate from all other souls. Then, 
in 1 Cor., 15:44, Paul says: "It is sown a natural 
body, and raised a spiritual body. There is a nat- 
ural body, and there is a spiritual body." He plain- 
ly teaches, that the condition by which the spiritual 
body is obtained, is the surrendering up of the nat- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 1 97 

ural bod}'. For, it is very evident, that the same 
soul and spirit could not live in both tenements at 
the same time. 

As the spiritual body is not composed of mate- 
rial, what need is there of gathering together the 
atoms from the ends of the earth, to bring about a 
material body, a body of flesh and blood, to be in- 
stantly changed to a spiritual body? For, flesh and 
blood cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Neith- 
er can corruption inherit incorruption. " But, God 
giveth it a body, as it hath pleased Him; and to ev- 
ery seed His own body." That is, to every soul a 
body of its own. 

By this, in the resurrection, the body would re- 
solve itself into the restoration of parts. And, were 
it not that Paul specifies positively that the body is 
to be spiritual, and not material, we might infer that 
the same old material would be brought together 
by the organic forces and stand before you as of old, 
flesh and blood. 

But he says when the body was planted or buried 
it was corruptible, composed of material, when raised 
incorruptible, and not composed of material. So far 
as knowing and being known is concerned, identical 
with the body that was planted in the grave, yet 
of a spiritual nature and form; such as will be harmo- 
nious with the elements of heaven. Perfect in form, 
pleasing in appearance, to know and be known as the 



io> IOUGHTS ON man ; 

same'identical being as the one that had passed into 
dust. 

When the final consumatton of all things comes, 

then shall the the souls and spirits of the loved ones 
departed, come forth, and occupy the spiritual bodies 
that God hath raised up for them, not of mate 
but ineorruptible. Those who then remain, and 
tasted death, shall in the twinkling of an 
eye, give up their body of flesh and blood, 
merg : he spirit ual body of t heir glorified s I a : e . 

and, with the innumerable host, be wafted away on 
the breezes of heaven, to inherit the mansions of the 

— ed. 

Christ raised from the dead His own natural body. 

And why? To prove to the world the efficacy of 

His blood, and as a witness to us that the bonds 

of death are broken, and the crossing of the river 

of death made sure. But when He ascended into 

heaven His body was changed, and so. like unt< 

those who are walking this earth when the trumpet 

spoken of shall sound, then shall they be caught up 

with the saints in the air. and with the throng of 

the glorified hosts, surround the throne of Him who 

brought them up through great tribulation, and sing 

bi evei M\d ever. So we will leave our 

nbling tenement of clay to go back and sleep in 

the bosom of its mother earth; but man shall 

his flight and rest in the presence of Him who liveth, 



OR, I ANPMARks OF r ki m. 1 oo 

whoso throne is heaven, and whoso footstool is 

earth. Wc shall then have fulfilled the mission of 
man And undergone the change necessary foi the 
fulfillment o( the penalty attached to disobedience, 
and will then be prepared to commence the now life 
in the now world. 

It may be argued that the resurrection o( La arus 
and the widow's son, were evidences of the resurrec- 
tion of the old, natural body, the body of flesh. 
But such an argument would be without effect, as 
they were both restored to their friends, in their 
former condition; living, walking, and enjoying the 
same relations as before, It was the bringing back 
o\ life to the lifeless forms as they had possessed it 
before. And, although we may not be able to find 
history to prove the fact, yet, these same parties did, 
undoubtedly, die again, the same as all mankind must, 
and passed the way oi all flesh, before departing 
this earth to take up their Abode in the spiritual 

world. 

Hut, it may bo said, that they were changed, as 
was Christ before He ascended into heaven, Christ 
was, indeed, forty days on the earth, after His death, 
walking and talking with men. Hut. when Ho as- 
cended to His Father, Ho loft His earthly substance, 

that, like unto our body oi flesh A\\d blood, A\\d, as 
Haul says: -was changed in the twinkling o( aw 
cw\" while Jesus, the incorruptible and divine, ascend- 



200 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

ed to the Father. Such, also, was the ascension of 
Elijah. But, whichever horn of the dilemma is tak- 
en, it does not prove but what a change is necessary 
before entering the spiritual world. The evidence is 
all in favor of the theory that Lazarus, and the wid- 
ow's son, were simply restored, not changed, and 
that, too, by simply setting aside the laws of death 
and decomposition, that inevitably follow the separa- 
tion of life from the body, by the power of One that 
is stronger than natural law. By Him came law, and 
by Him it can be changed or suspended. 

The material body is the shadow of man. The 
form has moved on, but the shadow still remains. 
Like the house that sheltered the beloved form 
of friends whom we look upon with delight, but, 
open the door and glance at the familiar walls, 
it all looks the same in form, but no smiles or wel- 
come looks meet our gaze. The friends have gone. 
Our mind follows them to distant lands, and in mem- 
ory, we see them, as they appeared in their former 
associations. But, should we step into their home 
in that distant land, think you that we would not 
recognize their forms, their looks, their voices, and 
their smiles ? Or, would we have to bring them back, 
o'er the waste of waters, and associate them, again, 
with the old home ? No. Methinks the old tenement 
would be forgotten in the enjoyment of the restora- 
tion of long loved friends. 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 201 

So, in the other world, the spiritual body will be 
no barrier to the recognition of friends. But the 
old tenement will be forgotten, in the joy that inter- 
venes at the meeting of the loved ones. The soul 
and spirit will be the same. And the uniting with 
the spiritual bod) will not change the identity, but 
will fit us to enjoy the pleasures of heaven. The 
spiritual body will occupy the same relation to the 
spiritual world, that the physical body does to this 
world. 

The spiritual body will act as a connecting medium 
between the soul and its surroundings, that we may 
enjoy the associations, and know and be known. It 
will not be an imperfect form, showing the effect ot 
physical disease, but, will be perfect in figure, symmet- 
rical in form, no gloom, no sickness, no pain, no death. 
The spirit and soul have been transferred from the 
physical body, or the old tenement below, to the 
spiritual body, the mansion above; where sickness, 
sorrow, pain and death can never come. 

There will be no deformities there, for the bodies 
of earthly matter have returned to dust. There is 
no idiocy or insanity there, for the matter which 
would not vibrate to the forces of the soul is now 
removed, and the resistance to the forces of heaven 
is unobstructed. Now the currents of the forces 
of the mind have a free play. As Paul says: "Now 
we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see 



202 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

face to face." The chords of the human soul will 
vibrate as never before. All deformities and imper- 
fections will have vanished and left the immortal 
spirit to possess a more glorious body, over which 
none other can boast, for all will be perfect. As 
stars differ in glory, so may we. But all the ob- 
structing properties caused by the imperfection of 
development, as well as the tendency of the human 
mind to evil, caused by sin, will have vanished. 

As the capacity of one vessel is greater than that 
of another, so will be the capacity of the soul of man 
to take in the joys of heaven. Yet, each will be fill- 
ed to its full measure; signifying the complete satis- 
faction of the incoporeal, spiritual entity of man, in 
his changed condition, from mortality to immortality. 



-4THE FUTURE STATE OF MAN> 



CHAPTER VII. 



n\ ?K AX has passed along in the cycle of time. He 
<Tfo^> has filled the full measure of his life and being. 
oAp The age of closing the great panorama of this 
^ world is fast coming to pass, and the fulfill- 
ments of the prophecies of old are nearly com- 
pleted. World making has been moving on. New 
lights, from time to time, have appeared in the 
heavens. Old lights have been disappearing. Plan- 
ets have been changing their ellipse. The various 
planets in our system are nearing the central orb. 
Some now are believed to be greatly influenced by 
the sun, and one after another of our worlds will be 
called by Nature's force to add fuel to the seathing, 
glowing sun. Some of our scientists declare that our 
years are shortening as time gropes her way along. 
If this be so, then it is only a question of age when 
time, to us, shall end. Their investigation only tend 
to strengthen the words of prophecy, which say in 



2Q4 THOUGHTS ON MAN ; 

the words of Isaiah, "All the host of heaven (mean- 
ing the stars and planets* shall be dissolved and the 
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all 
their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from 
the vine, and as a falling fig om the fig tree No 
ds can better portray the events of that hour, 
ge. As the nearing planets melt like snow be- 
fore a summer sun. in the closing ot the system 
around the great luminator of day, changing their 
solid matter into a liquid fire, system after system 
will be changed, and. under the influence of this 
might}- power, will again be rarefied, millions 
mes more than their present state and expanded 
into the unknown space. 

Does not astronomical observations also tell us 
that time, as now observed, will roll our planetary 
- stem I gether as a scroll and plunge planet after 
let into our great and burning orb. there :. 
rarefy them with fervent heat and intense power, 
changing the nature and form of the now existing 
matter until inorganic, vegetable and animal sub- 
stance will be melted and return again into - 
to form once more the fire-mist ? Who knows, but 
what, gathered together again by crystalization and 
gravitation they will form other worlds? 

Pees it not occur to you that all things observe 
rotundity and have a tendency to form sphei 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 20$ 

shapes? So, the "cycles of time" roll on. No begin- 
ning, no ending. 

Here is a convergence of the lines of prophecy and 
»>t science. The Holy Writ speaks in several places 
of the falling of the hosts, or stars of heaver, 
and the rolling together of the system as a scroll, 
and the earth being consumed or melted by fervent 
heat. Scripture says, again, in the sixth chapter of 
Revelations : "The angel shall proclaim that time 
shall be no longer." Time was instituted when day 
and night was established by the separating of the 
gases and gathering together of the elements of 
heaven to form our planets. Now, there is a change 
wrought. The crash of worlds and dissolving of 
matter ushers in the chaotic darkness which covers, 
once more, the face of the great deep. Time has 
ceased, for there is nothing to mark the time, nothing 
living on earth, for all matter is undergoing a change, 
preparatory to a new birth of Nature, by a condens- 
ing once more of that which exists in the great 
space of millions of miles in the form of leaping, 
moving, surging gas. 

Once more the hand of God is stretched over this 
shapeless mass and the storm of Nature ceases and 
a calm prevails. This is the end of the world. The 
last vestige of our beautiful planet has passed away, 
like a mist, to mingle with the matter of other 
worlds in infinite space. 



206 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

Sin has done its work. It sowed the seed of 
discord and disobediince, and Nature has felt the 
shock. It has wrought in Nature's laws a power that 
has at last brought destruction upon both sinful men 
and matter. 

The spirit which entered into man and caused him 
to sin, yet lives as does also the created souls of 
men. A process must now commence to restore 
from chaotic darkness, order and light. The great 
power of the mind of God commenced to work. He 
speaks the word and destruction's forces cease. 
Darkness is again bid to flee and stand aside, and, 
at once we will behold a glorious light, like unto the 
Son of God. 

As man in his natural, or physical state, does not 
come of spontaneous generation, neither does the 
spiritual entity of man come of spontaneous origin ; 
but, as in the natural man, it is dependent upon an 
energy, equal or superior to its self in power, and, 
as before stated, from this nucleus of life develops 
the full and comprehensive powers of a spiritual life. 
This development commences while in this natural 
state, and eventuates in all cases, whether godly or 
ungodly, in an eternal existence, an existence of 
entity, comprehensive and comprehended. The life 
which framed the structures and moulded the form, 
yet lives. The soul that fanned into flame the 
forces of the mind lives, and bears evidence of its 



. OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH 207 

former surrounding influences. They will differ in 
glory, magnitude and power, as one star differeth 
from another in glory, yet all will occupy a place 
in the great firmament of heaven. Or, where they 
have failed to absorb the life-giving energy, which 
spiritually vitalizes the soul for this plane of life, 
they live as dark and unsightly spots in the re- 
gions of eternal woe. Living nevertheless, but living 
as an exile from all enjoyment that inspires the heart, 
and dead to the power of love from Almighty God. 
The environing influences which moulded the im- 
mortal principle on earth will have their reward by 
the full power and control of their subjects. They are 
transplanted from the earthly forces into another 
of never ending character, surrounded by like en- 
vironment as those that moulded and prepared the 
subject for this place of rest. Here, there will be no 
more opportunity accorded for choice of good or 
evil environing influences, for one or the other of these 
influences according as we have chosen while on earth. 
On earth we have surroundings which suggest evil 
thoughts, although, by the power of will, we may 
reject them, yet they are of frequent presentation. 
Here we may be influenced one day by our associ- 
ates, in one direction, and another day in a different 
direction, necessitating a continual exertion of will 
and power of choice. In the spiritual sphere we 
will abide by the choice made while in our proba- 



208 THOUGHTS ON MAN ; 

tionary state. As we have chosen while on earth, so 
will be the influences of our environments in the 
spiritual world. No evil will be existing in the 
regions of eternal life, only to correspond to the na- 
tures of those who dwell therein. Heaven will be 
filled with peaceful, quiet and holy adaptations, to 
those who have been transplanted by the powers 
and environing influences of the Holy Spirit. No 
sinning, no repenting, for this will all have passed. 
Now it only remains for us to take to our nature 
the surrounding things of this spiritual world, and 
comprehend, one after another, of the great beauties 
and glories of the new life. These spiritual entities 
are not material, but are of a higher type of ex- 
istence. Consequently the natural laws of earth 
will have no control, or power, over them, but they 
will be under a higher order of law, coming from the 
one source from which all laws originate, but in 
another plane of life. That which is of the earth is 
earthly. That which is of heaven is heavenly. All 
laws must be confined to their own sphere, inorganic, 
organic, animal and spiritual. They may utilize, in 
in these successive steps, the parts of the lower 
order as they are required to constitute that of a 
higher order, but each is bound by the immutable 
principle and power of Divine Mind. 

As organic life takes the primitive elements of 
earth and>levates, them atom upon atom, to form 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 209 

the towering pine, overcoming but not destroying, 
gravitation, which tends to bring all things to a 
common level ; as animal life takes hold upon the 
organic and vegetable life, sapping to itself principles 
necessary for its life and growth, so does the life 
and growth of the spiritual man, when transformed 
and changed from this earthly body into the spiritual 
body, take only that part of man which is of a 
spiritual nature — the life — the soul. The scripture 
says : " He will give it a body as it hath pleased 
Him." A glorified body, one fitted for the environ- 
ing influences of heaven. 

As law is a result of force, and the kind of law 
is determined by the modification of that force, and, 
as force is modified to fill the demands of certain 
planes of life, therefore, it will be impossible in the 
nature of things, for natural laws, or laws of earth, 
to figure in the environing influences of a spir- 
itual life, and in the adaptation of the forces of heav- 
en. Thus, we see that environment does not create 
life, but sustains it. Life, to be sustained, must have 
a previous existence. Heaven, then, being filled 
with the environing influences necessary for the sus- 
taining of pure and God-like souls, would only be fit- 
ted for habitation of those of pure and honest de- 
sires. 

A sinful soul would find nothing there on which 
to live, and would be entirely out of its medium of 
14 



?2rIO THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

existence. Were it possible for a sinful soul to gain 
an admittance to heaven, it would wither and die; like 
a plant on the barren rocks in the mid-day sun. 
Hungry, starving, withering, perishing, for that with 
which to satisfy its longings. No power to adapt 
itself to the heavenly forces, and no preparations for 
the enjoyment of the pleasures of heaven. Like a 
.man in the midst of the sea, or a fish on the parched 
.sands,, it must perish. Heaven, then, is governed by 
■different forces and laws, than those of earth, al- 
though coming from the same power; but so formed 
-as to suit the constituency of heaven, and for the 
perfect adaptation of the inhabitants thereof. 

We, indeed, have to use the laws of earth as we 
understand them, to illustrate our conception of 
heaven. They are the only mediums by which ideas 
can be conveyed, and yet how vague, for the spirit 
of man often feels that which words and characters 
cannot express. Then, the waters of life from 
-which the soul shall drink, is not actual water, com- 
posed of oxygen and hydrogen, but a something which 
language cannot describe. "For eye hath not seen 
or ear heard." It is not for words to portray the 
nature of its substance, but it is for us to under- 
stand that it satisfies the longing desires of the soul, 
as water to the parched lips. The tree of life, 
which grows on the bank of the river, is to convey 
to our minds some faint idea of the environing in- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 211 

fluences of the city of rest that mortal mind may 
comprehend the principle of adaptation. This prin- 
ciple is also carried into the courts of heaven, so 
that man may be prepared to use this power of 
adaptation, as he now uses the power in the eviron- 
ing influences of earth. 

All the natural laws of earth originated from the 
mind of God, as does also the laws of heaven. But 
to say that the laws of earth are the same as those 
of heaven, or that they are simply a continuation of 
the same laws, seems unreasonable to a philosophic 
mind. There are many laws of our state to regulate 
the customs of our people; there is the criminal law 
which attaches a penalty of death to murder; im- 
prisonment for larceny ; a forfeit of property for 
debt. The laws all originated in the mind of the 
legislature, and all came from the same power to 
meet the different demands. Law is the result of a 
power, or force, and cannot be of spontaneous origin. 
It speaks of power as audibly as does the words of 
man, of a power of life. These different laws, ac- 
cording to their nature, cannot be used in our state 
to punish the various offences, only as they were 
intended to meet the demands in each case, and each 
class of offences. So with the laws of heaven and 
earth, they are only intended to apply to the sphere 
for which they were constructed. The inorganic, for 
crystalizing substance ; organic, for perfecting form 



212 THOUGHTS ON MAN 

and assinmlating material ; animal, for governing the 
process of compiling its peculiar living structure ; spir- 
itual, for working out the purpose of the Supreme 
mind in that channel of immortal forces peculiar to 
its plane. 

Here, we hear the prohibitory word proclaimed 
from one end of the earth to the other, of "Thou 
shalt not" . "Thou shalt not commit murder," "Thou 
shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not bear false witness," 
is proclaimed from the mountain and hill tops, from 
the valley and the plain, reverberated by the tower- 
ng cliffs, and whispered back by the winds, and by 
heaving billows of the ocean. 

This command is given because of sin. But in 
heaven no voice of command will be heard ringing in 
the ears of an erring heart, for sin cannot enter there, 
and,. the desire for evil could not-nnd lodgment in the 
breast of the inmates thereof. The laws of corrup- 
tion are barred from heaven, for no corruption, or sin, 
exists there to be controlled. No physical 
laws of earth exist to control the angelic form of 
man. The physical forms have vanished, and the 
imponderable forms and figures of the glorified 
bodies move through the streets and avenues of 
heaven, as the gliding of illuminated shadows o'er the 
the earth, to be seen and recognized by the spiritual 
faculties of immortal spirits. 

And after all these things shall be, (Referring to 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 21 3 

the end of time\ then we may look for a new heaven 
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 
Science has at last advanced by measured tread, to 
that point of which inspiration told us thousands of 
years ago. But it was intended that it should be, to 
prove the truth of the Divine word. But, where is 
man? He who was created to enjoy and con- 
trol all the lower order of animal life? On what 
shall he stand when the foundations of the earth 
shall be shaken, when the forces of heaven shall be 
broken, and the earth expand from its intensity of 
heat, amid the crashing of worlds, which tell of the 
end of time ? 

Is he not matter? Was he not made of the dust 
of the earth, that he must mingle again in the 
fire-mist of heavens. Listen to the word, which sci- 
ence has been so long believing but is now verifying 
with the telescope, laboratory and geological ham- 
mer. We wonder, as inspiration tells us; 4 there shall 
be a great sea of glass mingled with fire and upon 
this sea shall stand the victorious, having harps of 
Gold and singing praises." Is this not the veritable 
changing of the earth back to its former state of a 
fire-mist ? What could look more like a great sea of 
glass mingled with fire? This condition is slightly 
portrayed by the hydrogen cloud, seen by Prof. 
Young in 1 871, existing about 50,000 miles above 



214 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

the sun's surface and 100,000 miles long supported 
on pillars of fire. 

We must remember that we will have greater 
faculties of beholding, and many things that are not 
visible to our present senses, will then surprise our 
glorified vision. Then, methinks, we will be able to 
look down and see the earthly bodies changing into 
their primative, unorganized form, like unto the com- 
mon elements of earth. The laws which now govern 
the physical properties of our world will vanish under 
a higher order of law, at the wave of the Master's 
hand. 

Yes, but there is more of man, than simply matter. 
Paul says of this time, "I will let you into a mys- 
tery. We shall not all die, but we shall all be 
changed, in the twinkling of an eye, caught up in the 
heavens, and meet those who have been raised from 
the dead." That is, those whose bodies have under- 
gone the slow transformation to inorganic matter, 
by the process of decomposition. 

I have thought at times, when contemplating the 
change to come, that we would feel like shedding 
tears when we see this earthly mansion crumbling 
to the earth and going back to its mother dust. We 
cannot but feel a respect for the home of our child- 
hood, where we knelt by our mother's knee, where 
we heard the voice of our playmates, and romped the 
green fields in joyous glee. So this home, this 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 21 5. 

mansion of clay, through which we walk, talk and. 
see, when we behold its crumbling structure it may- 
seem like leaving an old home, but a Father will take 
us by the hand, and we feel the warm influence of His 
presence, behold the body incorruptible and the glori- 
fied state of the blessed. Then I think our tears will 
be turned into joy and our lamentation into songs 
of praise, for that which the mortal eye cannot behold,, 
or heart of man conceive. So it matters not, dead. 
or alive, a change shall come over all earthly matter^ 
It shall return to its mother dust, and from thence 
to its primitive fire-mistic state. But thanks to Him 
who ruleth all things, the forces and elements of the: 
physical world do not affect the spiritual creation,, 
but like the shining figures seen in the firey furnace 
with the Hebrew children, they will pass out witih- 
no smell of fire upon them. 

As the earthly creation was waiting for the advent 
of man, and the substance which was to make him a. 
part and creature of it, was waiting for the breathing; 
into it of the breath of life, so a spiritual substance 
will be waiting the exit of our souls and spirits from 
this earthly body, to welcome us to the body incor- 
ruptible. Methinks that the spiritual body will be 
composed of a substance to us now imperceptible; 
that we will have ears to hear, not only the sound of 
the vibration of earthly chords, but the grander, more 
noble sounds of the angels and spirits; that we wilt 



21 6 THOUGHTS ON MAN ; 

have eyes to behold the vast field of universal glory, 
now shut out from our view, by reason of our earth- 
ly body, which holds us bound down by earthly mat- 
ter and locks in our immortal souls. We will have 
voices to sing praises to Him forever and forever; 
fingers to play upon the harps of a thousand strings, 
and feet to walk the golden streets of the New Jeru- 
salem above. 

Our spiritual body will be governed by spiritual 
laws and forces, have a form of spiritual substance, 
assuming the identical shape and form of the one of 
earth, as if the vital substance had stepped forth 
from the earthly body to occupy the spiritual body, 
glowing with an effuglent glory, that the eyes of earth 
could not behold. Into such a body the spirit of 
life has stepped and the soul of former time takes 
control. It is the veritable person of former days, 
except, that the shell of mortality which enclosed the 
life, has vanished and set free the spiritual entity of 
man. Man has passed through a change, into a higher 
state of being. He has passed one cycle of time. A 
change is now wrought in this system of worlds, and 
a new era, of a higher grade of life, commences. Now 
we look for a new heaven and a new earth, and, ac- 
cording to the Holy Writ, it shall be without a sea. 
-If that be so, a change of laws and forces have 
taken hold of the fire-mist, for, in the creation of the 
former, earth was all sea before the appearance and 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRJTH. 217 

division of land. If no sea, then no rain; if no rain, 
then no vegetable life; if no vegetable life, then no 
animal life. Then what have we in this new heaven 
and new earth for which we look? A world suited 
for the habitation of spiritual bodies. Other sub- 
stance and creation, of a higher order, will take their 
place, which a spiritual entity can enjoy. It is that 
which shall develop our spiritual nature and add 
glory unto glory, according to our capacity to receive, 
and conception to enjoy. 

We shall have no sun, no moon, no heat. Why ? 
Because we need no material light, or heat, as for our 
physical bodies, but a light that is adapted to our 
spiritual bodies. We are assured that "God will be 
the light thereof," and His presence shall give light 
throughout this world continually, for there is no 
night there, We shall occupy form and space, as a 
spiritual body, and not be diffused over the vast world 
of space. The forces of heaven will be at our dis- 
posal to transport us from place to place, subject to 
to the Divine will, for this will, will dwell in us. 
There shall be no sorrow, or tears there. They are 
the products evil, and of earth. No sighing, for this 
comes of grief. And there shall be a city, of which 
the Jerusalem of old was typical, and no unclean 
thing shall enter in, or sintul eye behold, or polluted 
feet touch. Flesh and blood dwell not therein, or 
that which maketh a lie. Its length is 12,000 fur- 



21 8 THOUGHTS ON MAN; 

longs, or 1,500 miles, and every side is equal, and 
of four sides. It has a wall 264 feet high, and has 
twelve foundations in which are the names of the 
twelve apostles. The walls are built of the most 
precious stones. The sides have each three gates, 
named, and corresponding to the twelve tribes of 
Israel, through which all people shall enter. They 
are built of pearl and glorious beyond conception. 
In this city, or house, as the Master said, are many 
mansions. Room for all who may come that wear 
the mark of the new name. And those of the new 
name are enrolled upon the Lamb's Book of Life, and 
join in the hosts of the redeemed. The streets shall 
be paved with pure gold and polished to shine like 
glass. In the midst shall be the throne, and the 
Lamb of God shall reign. And from the throne 
down the principal streets shall flow the River of Life. 
Not water, but a spiritual stream, originating from 
the forces of God, to add to the comfort and suste- 
nance of the spiritual substance of man. As water f 
in our earthly state, quenched the thirst, so, as 
Christ said, "He who shall drink of this water of life 
shall never thirst." On the bank of this stream shall 
grow a Tree of Life, from which the inhabitants shall 
pluck the fruit thereof, eat, and live forever. This 
fruit is a supply to the spiritual substance of which 
we shall then be composed. 

This will be a place of energy. All will be occu- 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH 219 

pied in the grand and noble work of the Master, 
with perfect unity of purpose. It will also be a 
world of progression in the plane of created 
being. Our capacity will increase as eternity rolls 
along, and our knowledge of the Almighty Being 
expand, and we can conceive of His boundless love 
and power. Our eyes shall discern the glories of the 
heavenly space. There shall be no discords in the 
heavenly strains, coming from the multitude around 
the great throne, for the faculties of praise will be 
perfect. Now we are deficient, but then perfect. 
Our limbs will not tire, for muscle and sensative 
nerves will not enter into our incorporeal being. Our 
perceptions of sound will be perfect and our souls 
will never tire, hearing the songs of the redeemed. 
Our ideas will expand into a more perfect state. 
Our faith will be perfect. Hope will have vanished, 
because of the fruition of the things hoped for. 
Emotion will run in a pure stream of love, that which 
characterizes the Divine mind. Hate will have 
vanished forever and deceit fled away. Joy, in its 
stead will thrill the soul and blot from memory the 
grief and sadness of earth. Rest, sweet rest, of 
body, mind, spirit and soul shall never end, or be 
marred by the presence of sin. 

I have perhaps stepped aside from the theories 
prevalent to-day in regard to theology, and undoubt- 
edly may antagonize the minds of some eminent 



220 THOUGHTS ON MAN ; 

men. But it has been so long the case that the 
public cling to the theories of one or two, simply be- 
cause of a great name they may have obtained by 
eloquence, or other power, that they might teach the 
most vague and unphilosophical doctrines and it 
would not be questioned, but taken as a matter of 
fact. I have diverged from the channel of scientific 
thought, and may, in so doing, draw the fire of the 
batteries of the scientific world. But, if I have caus- 
ed thought and research in the mind of my readers, 
that may extend farther into the subject of the nature 
of man, then I will bear the labors, and the criticisms of 
men, with pleasure. I have tried to lead the mind to 
frame its own conclusions and not to fasten upon the 
text book the power of judgment, but treat them 
simply as the penned thoughts of noble men, and 
of teachers worthy to be heard and respected. But 
they are only the opinions of men, and nothing final. 

I have a right to think and so have you. No 
man has a right to deny me that privilege, or abuse 
me for my honest opinions, unless I teach that 
which destroys the morals of our people. Then, in 
justice, I should not be heard. It is by the inter- 
changing of honest thought, that we frame new ideas, 
that enable us to draw more correctly our conclu- 
sions. Mind sharpens the mind of its fellow, when 
rubbed together. It is often the case that the rusult, 



OR, LANDMARKS OF TRUTH. 221 

is a sharp and cutting truth, which pierces to the 
soul. 

Now in conclusion, if I have dropped a thought of 
a new idea, that has a ray of the light of truth, 
which before was unperceived, then follow it, and may 
it open up to you a more glorious view of the unseen 
things which bear a close relation to the welfare of 
our mortal mind, and never dying soul. 

Let the mind be led by science thought, 
And soul inspired by hope. 
Let faith take hold, the promise given 
And fruition will be our lot. 

Though the present demands our earnest work 

Its bounties to obtain; 

All will vanish, like morning dew 

When we heavenly riches gain. 



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